Dark alleys and other love stories
by Incognito Burrito
Summary: Vampire Edward meets human Bella when she is being attacked in a dark alley. Things get ugly and Edward is forced to take her to his house to save her.Not all great love stories start once upon a time and far far away; Some begin down dark alleys.A/U ExB
1. Dark alleys and other love stories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters in that series. You know that, right?**

EPOV

Always so predictable. The thoughts of thugs were always the same. Dark, shifting melodies of abuse and lust and greed and betrayal. You'd think those things- though unpleasant- would at least remain interesting. Hell, soap operas had milked those story lines for years on end. And viewers tuned to episodes of shows like COPS for exactly this kind of crap. But I was tired of it. About 90 years of hearing it second-hand and I'd had my fill.

But here, again, thinking very predictable thoughts, was another filthy excuse for a human being. When a vampire has that opinion of you, it's time to reconsider the way you're living. Too bad this piece of trash wouldn't get the chance.

I veered left into a dark alley. A dark alley- God, even that was cliché. I tried not to roll my eyes as his thoughts of mugging tinged with the possibility of another rape and murder assaulted my mind. He was hoping she'd scream- the dark haired, doe-eyed woman he was pressing a gun to. They all hope for screams, a little.

It registered on the periphery of my mind I wasn't hearing the usual frenzied thoughts from this damsel in distress. About now she should be thinking absurdly about ways to escape and wondering if this was really happening and what it was she'd learned from some TV show she should do in a situation like this-as if anyone could ever really prepare for this sort of thing. And while the hummingbird pace of her heart and the sweet scent of her fear permeated the atmosphere, I wasn't hearing the usual thoughts. Part of me wanted to ponder that a moment, but the greater part- the monster- was already in a crouch, ready to eat, and not really giving a shit about what my prey's intended prey was or was not thinking.

Sliding from the shadows, I allowed my victim (and his victim too- why was I still thinking about her?) to detect my presence. The man's thoughts startled, and he began calculating ways to kill me before going about his business with the young woman.

"Excuse me," I began, hearing the almost musical sound of my voice reverberate in the annoyingly cliché back alley.

"What'choo want? We don't got nothing we can do for you man," my friend, the criminal/poet laureate yelled, obviously intent on butchering the English language along with the young woman cowering against the brick wall.

"I was hoping we could discuss the importance of good citizenship and the benefits of avoiding double negatives, but have a sinking feeling I have the wrong man," I answered, appearing at his side just a bit too quickly. His instincts recognized a predator, and he reacted the way men of his nature often do, grabbing the closest defenseless thing and pointing a gun at it.

"Come any closer an' I'll blow 'er fucking head off,": the man stammered, trying to sound intimidating.

I rolled my eyes. "And…" I responded.

"And that shit's on you then man. It- it'll be like you pulled the trigger," he answered, clearly nervous now. "Bitch's blood's on your hands."

"A lot of blood is on my hands," I said darkly, and I could tell he knew at once it was true.

The man faltered, mentally trying to calculate how far and how fast he could run. Realizing he was trapped, he instead decided to turn the gun on me, while damsel in distress looked on, still keeping her thoughts to herself.

None of this bothered me. Because guns don't hurt vampires. And Damsels - in distress or not- are predictable, and I rarely care to hear their thoughts anyhow.

But had I been able to hear those thoughts, I would have learned not everyone was as predictable as my friend with the gun. Because while the shot he soon fired wouldn't have hurt me, it sliced through the soft skin of the woman as she suddenly jumped between me and it in a misguided effort to save my life.

The whole thing took a few moments to register in my mind, and with my mind, that's saying something.

I snapped back into action and grabbed the thug, unleashing my inner demon on him and ripping his throat out as I quickly drank the hot syrup of his blood. My attentions then turned to the crumpled form of the young woman, who stared at me through glassy eyes as she bled out on the pavement.

For me. She bled to save me. A monster.

And somewhere, some part of me long since forgotten anguished at her sacrifice.

I looked around the alley. I couldn't just leave her here. She would die. And, for some reason, I apparently cared about things like that now. But I couldn't very well take her to a hospital. She had seen everything. They'd probably have her committed for a story like that. Worse still, what if someone actually believed her?

I'd have to bring her home. It was the only option aside from letting her die.

Her eyes rolled back and unconsciousness claimed her. I had to make a choice.

"Mother Fu…" I began, lifting her chilled body from the ground,

I missed predictability already.

**A/N: This is my first shot at something like this so please let me know your thoughts. And, um, be gentle.**


	2. White knights and other dragons

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters in that series. You know that, right?**

EPOV

About 90 years ago I was the kind of person you would expect to be upset by a young woman left bleeding to death in front of him. Hell, almost 90 years ago I was a person. But time-and becoming a bloodsucking, undead fiend- can really chisel the empathy right off of a guy.

My life- can I call it that if I'm not technically alive? Still not clear on that- had slipped into a comfortable and deadly pattern. I lived alone. I kept to myself- save for necessary dealings with my few acquaintances and my business associate- James. I didn't let anyone get too close to me.

Nights were spent searching for some wretched specimen of humanity unworthy of drawing breath and unlikely to be missed. Not that I killed every night, but when an opportunity like my latest meal in the alley presented itself, I never hesitated to take it. And things always (with this one, glaring exception) went smoothly. Killing, after all, is what I was designed for.

Saving lives, however, was new to me.

I sailed through the crisp autumn night with the bleeding woman held to my chest. I could hear her pulse weakening and her breathing become shallow and ragged, even as I did my best not to jostle her. The long driveway leading to my house came into view quickly, despite its distance from the city of Port Angeles. Super human speed is handy like that. I had chosen the rainy town of Forks for my temporary residence, in part, because of its distance from my hunting grounds. No one would be able to reconcile the speed at which I appeared in town, on foot, with the time of death of my victims. That is, if anyone ever had reason to try.

Breezing through my front door, I crossed the expansive entryway, climbed the staircase and placed the woman on the bed in the nearest bedroom, briefly grateful I'd bothered with the essentially ornamental piece of furniture. I made use of my previously pointless medical degrees (hey, you have an eternity to kill-pardon the pun- you learn some things). I removed the bullet, which had hit her near the shoulder right shoulder. I stitched and cleaned and thanked a God I didn't particularly believe in the woman hadn't lost enough blood to need a transfusion. That would have been awkward.

Once she was resting comfortably, I slipped from the room and allowed myself to finally question what I'd just done. There was a human woman- who had seen my true nature- in my house. There were rules about this sort of thing. And while I normally wasn't much for rules, these rules were enforced by the sort of folks who make you think twice before pissing them off.

The whole thing was out of character for me. I was no white knight. I was the fucking dragon, if anything.

I paced the entryway furiously. What was the point in bringing her here? So she could heal? And then what? It's not as though I could say "Hey, great time sewing ya up, thanks for pointlessly taking a bullet for me. Oh, and that whole me being a mythical creature thing, can that just stay between us?"

Shit. I'd have to kill her.

Not that that should be a problem. I mean, like I said, I kill people all the time. Sure, they're usually bad people the world is better off without- not people who risk their lives to save me- but still. Now was not the time to quibble semantics; Killing is killing. And it was time to kill.

I stalked back up to the bedroom promising I'd make it painless for her. I'd probably even just break her neck instead of draining her, since it seemed a little rude to eat a woman who'd just taken a bullet for you. Yes, I'd make it quick. Better to put this lapse in judgment behind me.

Probably looking every bit the monster I was, I loomed over her fragile, sleeping form. I studied her briefly trying to decide what angle to approach her from to make it all as quick as possible. Deciding on the safest route, I placed one hand on her exposed arm, marble skin connecting with soft flesh. I was suddenly and inexplicably upset she hadn't been wearing a jacket in the cooler weather of October in Washington. She would get cold. No, wait, she would get dead. That was my part in all of this. "Vampire. Remember, genius?" I asked myself.

Her breathing stuttered, and I knew on some level she'd registered my presence and my touch. I waited for the imminent recoil as her body recognized me for what I was. But instead there was only the strangest feeling of electricity between us, like my very flesh was awakening after being numb for a very, very long time.

And then, just as I was beginning to regroup and go in for the kill, she leaned ever so slightly into my touch… and smiled.

I knew right then I could never kill that woman.

Well… shit.

**A/N: Reviews appreciated! While I know the story I want to tell here, I don't want to waste my time typing it if it's not one anyone else wants to read. You'll finally hear from Bella next, if that makes it any more interesting for you. So if you're digging it or think I'm just wasting my time, let me know. I'm really new at this so I'd love the feedback.**


	3. Zombies and other attractive strangers

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters in that series. No infringement in intended, I'm just playin' around here.**

BPOV

He was just too pretty to die.

Yeah, not a great reason to take a bullet for a complete stranger, right? And obviously, there was more to it than that, but I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind. Really though, the main thing that was running through my mind as I watched my attacker turn his gun toward the brave, bronze haired stranger in front of me was simply how unfair it all was. Here was this fearless man- about my age- coming to my aid in a bad situation when the motto of my generation seemed to be "mind your own damn business."

At least I thought he was coming to my aid. I'm actually a little muddy on all that. He seemed like a superhero until he began eating that guy. Did I really see that?

Typical Bella. Take a bullet for a guy and it turns out he's a zombie. A hot zombie, but a zombie nonetheless.

It seemed a fitting end to a life fraught with bungled efforts and clumsy choices. If I wasn't tripping over my own feet I was undoubtedly making some horrendous life-altering decision. Like the one that brought me near that damn alley in the first place.

I'd been planning on meeting my friend, Jessica, for dinner in Port Angeles. Having forgotten I'd set my phone on vibrate, I missed her call telling me she had to cancel at the last minute because she'd (squeal) finally scored a date with this guy she'd been stalking since high school, Mike. I didn't get what she saw in him but I was happy for her. At least one of us had some decent luck.

I left the area in front of the restaurant I'd been occupying while waiting for Jessica and headed back to my truck as the sun began to droop below the horizon, bruising the sky with shades of purple as it went. Despite being dismayed at the prospect of driving all the way back to Forks (I wasn't eating in a restaurant alone- I didn't need the general public baring witness to my anemic social life), I was glad for the relative warmth in the cab of my old truck. It was the sort of night my mother would have warned me to take a jacket, if she had ever been the sort of mother to do such things. And if she weren't dead.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I pushed the key into the ignition and turned it. The truck made sounds like it was thinking pretty seriously about starting, but then decided to imitate a dying cow instead. I tried again and again with the same luck.

"Great," I muttered dejectedly. I pulled out my cell phone to call… well… someone, and realized I couldn't think of a single person who would be able to help me in this situation.

"Well that's just…pathetic," I said to myself. I decided I'd call AAA. I didn't have a membership but hell, maybe they'd take pity and point me in the right direction. But by the time I decided to call information to get the number for AAA (after no less than 15 minutes trying to find the number for information) my phone was dead.

"Of course," I said, wavering between blinking back tears and laughing hysterically. After taking a few minutes to rally myself, I decided I wouldn't get anywhere sobbing like a crazy woman in my truck. It was time to put on my big girl pants and be proactive. I decided to get out and walk somewhere with a phone I could use. The obvious choice was the restaurant I had just been outside of, but I felt like the employees there had already witnessed enough of my humiliation as I stood for half an hour obviously awaiting a dining companion who never showed.

My memory flashed on a bookstore down the road, and I headed out in that direction. When I arrived in front of the familiar storefront, however, they were already closed for the evening. I shivered in the chill left by the sun's absence and headed back down the dark street looking for any other promising looking shops. Somehow in my fruitless search for a phone I got turned around and lost in the unfamiliar area. I suddenly realized it was very dark and I was very alone and my cell was very, very dead.

As if sensing my newly realized vulnerability, heavy footsteps began to match pace with my own behind me. I wrapped my exposed arms around my middle defensively and picked up my speed, never looking back. The footsteps accelerated even faster than my own, and suddenly it became clear that whomever was behind me had lost interest in pretending they were in pursuit of me. I dropped all pretense and broke into a sprint, looking desperately for some safe place to duck into. Unfortunately I should have been looking at the ground instead, because then I might have noticed the uneven pavement in my path. Instead I was sent sprawling in the yawning mouth of an alley as rough hands grabbed me, one over my mouth to muffle a scream and the other around my back and pushing a gun to my side as I was dragged backward into the alley.

In my panic I couldn't make out much of the man's face, but I saw he was making no attempt to disguise himself. Some half-memory told me that was a very, very bad thing, because if they're going to let you live they don't want you to be able to identify them. That was the moment I realized I was going to die.

The man roughly shoved me against the wall, and the barrel of the gun he held pressed so hard into my sides I thought briefly about the bruise it would leave, before reminding myself it wouldn't matter much since I'd be dead. My attacker took a step back, analyzing me, and I tried desperately to keep a clear enough head to think of a way out of this.

"Excuse me," a voice rang out, and I was momentarily amazed that such a beautiful voice could come from such a violent criminal until my brain processed the information that there was a second man walking toward me and the man with the gun.

"What'choo want? We don't got nothing we can do for you man," the guy with the gun yelled. I considered what seemed like a thousand scenarios before the beautiful voice rang out again. I considered that this second man was a cop, or a superhero, or a ninja/kick boxer with some Chuck Norris skills. He could be a vigilante or an expert marksmen on leave from the army or even just a postal worker with the kick ass dog mace they carry. "Yes," my mind whispered, "he could be any of those things."

By my gut- the part of me that knew the reality I lived in and the sort of luck I had, told me otherwise. It told me this angel-throated stranger was just what he seemed. A guy, about 21 or so, who was trying to be brave and would die for the mistake. A guy who just wanted to help me, because he probably was taught by some kindhearted mother who loved him dearly that that is what good people do. A guy who would be missed and would be mourned. Just a brave, beautiful…holy crap how did he get next to us that fast?

Somehow in the course of my internal monologue the man with the great voice had seemingly materialized at the side of the man with the gun. I'd assume this was just one of those instances of time moving in strange ways in moments of great stress, but the guy with the gun seemed shaken by it too.

"I was hoping we could discuss the importance of good citizenship and the benefits of avoiding double negatives, but have a sinking feeling I have the wrong man," my would-be hero said. And even in the midst of so many strange and terrifying things I could see this man was gorgeous. So gorgeous that even with a gun-wielding mad man and some definite super speed issues to ponder, his staggering attractiveness registered in my overloaded brain.

Because my brain was indeed overloaded, it took a few beats longer than normal for me to process the words being formed by that musical voice. Wait… was he making jokes? Or criticizing the grammar of the man intent on killing me? Did I miss something again? Is that "Punked" show still on because I swear I will sue the shit out of Ashton…

"Come any closer an' I'll blow 'er fucking head off," the man with the gun said, and whipped around to point the barrel at my head. Well that got my attention. Probably not an Ashton thing then.

I waited for the response of my staggeringly attractive would-be hero. Something witty. Something brave. Something like they say in the movies.

"And…" he responded.

"And? And! And I'll be dead you pretty son of a.." I thought

"And that shit's on you then man. It- it'll be like you pulled the trigger," the gun guy answered with a shaky voice. "Bitch's blood's on your hands."

"Yeah," I thought. "Well, not exactly but still…" Wait? Am I agreeing with the guy that wants to murder me now?

"A lot of blood is on my hands," the good- looking- but- didn't- care- if -I -died guy said.

Um, that wasn't comforting. Yep, I was ready to call it: Shittiest night ever.

Somehow enough of my brain was still functioning to detect a quick shift in position from the man with the gun. I realized instantly that he intended to shoot the other man, and instantly everything from "he's just too pretty to die" to the thoughts of a mother who would mourn him coursed through my muscles, causing them to react by jumping in front of the man just before the shot rang out.

Pain.

I'd seen people pretend to get shot all the time on TV, and it looked like it hurts, but in a way that still leaves you able to do a few roundhouse kicks and sprint three blocks to escape the bad guy. Let me tell you: dying hurts. Not only was I unable to execute any martial arts moves, I couldn't even scream. Fire ripped through me, tearing flesh and muscles and veins. I folded in on myself and fell to the cold pavement, barely able to register anything but the pain as I stared vacantly in the direction of the two men.

To give you an idea of how much pain I was in, it took a minute for me to realize exactly what I was seeing. I was bleeding everywhere and I could feel myself being pulled into some unfathomable darkness. But before it engulfed me some small, cognizant part of me realized the guy I just took a bullet for appeared to be snacking on my attacker.

"Figures," I thought lamely. And then everything was darkness and cold.

Electricity. That's the only way I could begin to describe what I felt. There was some strange, pins and needles sort of tingling flowing to my arm. And it felt strange but it also felt, well, _good_. And then I slipped back into the blackness that swarmed my mind.

Muffled voices spoke too quickly to make sense of the words the spoke near me. I tried to focus, scrambling to recall where I would be when I opened my eyes and why I hurt so much.

"She's waking up, get out of here. We'll talk later," a familiar and musical male voice said. I wondered why I knew that voice as movements too fast to be footsteps retreated from the room. Memory burned on the edges of my mind. Something bad had happened. I'd been attacked and hurt. And there was a man. A beautiful man… no. Not a man. Something that looked like a man, but definitely not a man. And there had been blood and… Oh. My. God.

My eyes snapped open in alarm as I remembered everything that had happened. Twilight flooded the bedroom I was in and a muted ray from the setting sun danced in the shadows of a mop of bronze hair. Green eyes sent a piercing stare in my direction, and the expression on the man's too-symmetrical face was unreadable. Was he confused? Concerned? Hungry?

I searched my mind for something to say but words failed me. Thankfully the god-like creature before me wasn't have the same problem.

"Do you remember?" he asked bluntly.

"Yes," I answered. I had a feeling he'd know if I was lying.

He sighed. Do monsters sigh? Did I really believe this man was a monster?

"Where… how did I get here?" I stammered.

"You're in my house. I brought you here," the man answered. I thought I heard frustration in his words, but couldn't be sure.

"You… You killed that guy that was attacking me," I said. It seemed rude to blurt it out like that, but I wasn't sure what the etiquette was in a situation like this.

He nodded tersely.

"You, um, you ate him," I added.

He quirked an eyebrow at that and then nodded again.

He seemed to be waiting for me to say more, but I was unsure how to follow up on my last statement. Finally he seemed to accept he would have to pick up the slack in our conversation.

"You were shot," he said, gesturing vaguely in my direction. I looked down at myself and found I was wearing medical bandages and my t-shirt had been ripped from collar to sleeve, presumably so my wounds could be cleaned. Suddenly feeling immodest I pulled the bed sheet tight around my chest.

"I didn't see… anything. I just had to get the bullet out," the maybe-monster said. Something resembling a smirk played at the corner of his mouth before the good humor slid from his face once more.

"Thank you," I offered.

"Thank you? Thank you?" he half-yelled. "You got shot because of me. You almost died trying to save me. You _saw _me. You know what I am and what I do. And you tell me 'Thank you?'" He seemed torn between rage and disbelief, raking a hand through his hair.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked nervously.

"I want you to yell at me. I want you to try to run from me. I want you to scream and treat me like the monster you know I am and tell me you regret jumping in front of me," The man fumed.

"But I don't," I said without thinking. Was that true? Was I really okay taking a bullet for a zombie…thing…whatever he was? A monster. But did I believe that? Did I really think the man before me was a monster?

"No," I said, answering us both.

He looked frustrated, so I continued.

"Look, I… I don't know what to say. I'm sorry you're upset and I'm sorry you got dragged into this, whatever you are and I'm so, so sorry I forgot to charge my cell phone. But I'm not sorry I didn't let someone else get shot in my place. Whatever you are, you were the only thing that kept the horrible man from doing God knows what to me in that alley. And that tells me that you may be a lot of things- I'm guessing zombie by the way- but you are not a monster."

"You're wrong," he said sadly.

"If I was wrong I'd be dead already," I said stubbornly.

A heavy silence settled between us.

"I'll go get you something to eat," he said moving toward the door. "Try to refrain from taking a bullet for the wolf-man while I'm gone."

Wait was that a joke? Do the undead joke?

"You try not to snack on any villagers on the way to the kitchen," I responded, and thought I saw a hint of a smile dance across his features.

"No promises," he replied before leaving the room. I was trying to process what just happened when he peeked his head back in the door.

"And for the record," he said "I am not a zombie." And then he was gone again.

"Right," I said to myself. "Not a zombie. That would just be ridiculous." I settled back into the bed and despite the fact I was God-knows-where with God-knows-who (or what) I couldn't help but smile.

"Maybe he's a vampire," I thought and laughed. That was even more ridiculous than zombie. Everyone knows there's no such thing as vampires.

Right?

**A/N: I know this chapter was a lot longer but I had a lot of ground to cover. Just to clear some things up, in this universe Edward does not have an unusually strong pull to Bella's blood and vampires' eyes don't change based on what they're eating. No disrespect to those characteristics, they just won't work in this world. Thanks to the people who took time to give feedback or favorite this story. I makes me feel a little better about taking the time to type this out. **


	4. Sandwiches and other things to make

**Disclaimer: I don't even kind of own Twilight or any of the characters in that series. Not even a lil' bit. No infringement is intended. I'm just playing around here.**

EPOV

A zombie? Really? Didn't anyone know their monsters anymore? I shook my head in dismay as I headed toward the kitchen. And here I thought vampires were hot right now. Apparently the woman in my bedroom - whose name I probably should learn- didn't spend her Thursday's snuggled up watching that Vampire Diaries show while texting her BFF- whatever the fuck that meant. Zombie. Seriously. Did I eat the guy's brain? No. Was I wearing tattered clothing covered in the earth from my grave as I limped around moaning, arms outstretched? Hell no. I shopped at Armani for God's sake.

As I entered the kitchen I did a mental scan for any trace of Emmett still on the property. Emmett was about the closest thing I had to a friend. He was a vampire, but that was about all we had in common. Where I was reserved and brooding Emmett lit up the landscape with his personality like a 1,000 watt bulb. He was boisterous and friendly, outgoing and warm (figuratively speaking. As a general rule vampires are cold but you get what I mean.)

His wife/mate/bitch queen of the universe, Rose, was almost as unlike him as I was. Statuesque and unwelcoming, she was a difficult creature to get to know, although her striking beauty certainly drew people to her. Unfortunately for them.

Emmett had shown up, uninvited (yeah, we can do that) long after I finished dressing the woman's wounds. I had been watching her, studying her for hours by the time he got there. The scent of blood sent him flying into the room, although he stopped instantly when he caught sight of me. I must have looked even more miserable than usual as I listened to the now-familiar beat of her heart and analyzed every whimper as she slept the troubled sleep of the injured. I wasn't sure why the sight upset me, but it did, and that in turn upset me even more. It was all very… upsetting.

"Um, something you wanna tell me bro?" Emmett asked. "Did your mail-order bride here come damaged like this? Because I'm pretty sure there's a return policy…" he began jokingly, but stopped when he realized I wasn't in a laughing frame of mind.

"Okay man, what happened?" he asked, serious now.

"She…I… This guy…" I began, unsure of how to tell the story that ended with the woman I should have killed resting in my house. "I fucked up."

"Well the bullet riddled human in your bed tipped me off to that," he replied. "How did you fuck up, exactly?"

I took an unnecessary breath and told Emmett everything, beginning with hearing the thoughts of the violent thug and ending with the woman healing in my house. What I couldn't tell him, because I didn't know myself, was why. Why did I bring her here? Why didn't I kill her? Why did every ounce of common sense abandon me when it came to her?

"You realize she can't leave here," Emmett said.

"Yeah," I said glumly. That was one of the most troubling aspects of all of this. In trying to save me this woman had doomed herself to a life of imprisonment with me, because there was no way I could just let her walk away knowing what she knew. Not only was it dangerous to me- because that's the sort of thing that would make the enforcers in my world, the Volturi, bring holy hell down on me- but it was also dangerous for her. Vampires don't let humans who know their secrets live to tell them, and someone would make an easy snack of this woman once she inevitably let on that she knew more than we allow. The thought left me with an uneasy feeling I was unaccustomed to.

"So what, you just going to settle in with her for the next- how long do humans live?-50 years or so?" Emmett asked. "That sounds cozy."

"I haven't thought that far ahead," I replied.

"Well you better damn well start thinking because the Volturi will have your nuts if…" Emmett began, but just then I had detected a change in the woman's breathing, signaling that she was on the verge of waking.

"She's waking up, get out of here, We'll talk later," I told Emmett. He shot me a look that clearly said "yes we will," and left the room.

"…And then she called me a zombie," I thought, bringing myself back to the moment.

I began scouting my sparsely stocked kitchen for something to take what's-her-name. Obviously I didn't need food in the house, but I had always been a stickler for keeping up appearances. Emmett had mocked me for it but for once it looked like one of my many quirks was coming in handy. Hoping the stranger upstairs didn't have a peanut allergy I began making her a peanut butter sandwich but stopped short when I heard sounds of movement upstairs.

Within seconds I was back in her...er my…_the_ room, staring at the obviously startled woman. She was out of bed and wincing at the pain caused by that effort. A million scenarios ran through my head: Was she trying to make a run for it? Was she going to call for help? Maybe write a tell-all and schedule an interview on "The View"..

"What are you doing?" I roared.

She staggered backward, falling just short of the bed with a painful "thunk" on the hardwood floor. She blinked in obvious terror at my seemingly inexplicable outburst.

"I, I…" she stammered.

"You what?" I demanded.

"I… Ijustreallyneededabathroom," she said in a quick breath.

A…bathroom. Oh. I. Am. An. Asshole. It had never even occurred to me that she would obviously be in need of such facilities after so much time in my presence without using them.

Regaining my composure I closed the distance between us, feeling every bit the monster I was. I picked the woman up and gently set her back on the bed. "I'm sorry for reacting like that," I said in a weak attempt at an apology.

The woman nodded, obviously blinking back tears.

"Oh, God, don't cry," I begged. I really didn't need to add her tears to my list of things to feel shitty about.

"I'm okay. You just scared me," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry about that. I have a temper and… and I'm not used to having guests," I told her. "I thought maybe you were trying to leave."

Awareness flashed across her pale features as the implications of that statement set in.

"Oh God. You're not letting me leave here, are you?" she asked.

Shit. Why did I say anything?

"Um… not right away," I said, trying to buffer the news.

"So I'll be staying here, with you," she said, obviously still trying to make sense of what I was saying.

"Yes," I answered, waiting for the horror of her realization that she would be forced to spend an indefinite amount of time trapped with a monster to spill across her face.

It didn't.

"Why didn't you kill me?" she asked after a moment.

"I'm not sure," I answered honestly.

"Are you going to?" she asked.

"No. Not unless I have to." I responded.

"So… is this my room then?" she asked.

I blinked several times. Was she serious? I tell her she's basically my prisoner and she just wants to know where to set up her sock drawer?

"Uh…yeah. I guess it is," I answered.

She took a moment before looking at me with the appearance of an almost unnaturally calm resignation to the news she'd been given.

"I wasn't kidding about needing that bathroom," she said.

I smiled despite myself. This woman never failed to surprise me-a fact that was almost certainly due in part to my inexplicable inability to read her mind, but I'd think about that later. "Down the hall and to your left," I told her before helping her off the bed. I watched her retreat from the room and was left to ponder the strange enigma that was this woman whom I'd invited into my life until she suddenly reappeared in the room.

"You get lost?" I asked her. "Because the one with the toilet is the one you're looking for."

She bit her lower lip before speaking, and I tried not to focus on the strange feeling that stirred in me.

"No, no. I was just thinking…if I'm going to be staying here…" she began.

"Yes?" I said, encouraging her to continue.

"I really should know your name," she finished.

"Oh yeah. Details like that would probably help," I thought.

I crossed the room and extended a hand to her. "I'm Edward. Edward Cullen. Pleased to make your acquaintance, " I said.

She giggled at the odd formality, and I was surprised how happy the sound made me.

"Pleased to meet you Edward," she said, accepting my handshake and causing that strange feeling of electricity coursed between us. "I'm Bella. Bella Swan."

**A/N: Alright lurkers, show some love and leave a review. It makes me happier than an vampire with an expense account at Armani. And THANK YOU to those wonderful people who have taken the time to review. I've been updating this daily to get it going but I know there will be some days when that just won't happen since I have real life to contend with. I do have a pretty solid idea of where this is going though so if I miss a day or two don't assume I'm giving up on this. **


	5. Vampires and other things that suck

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Twilight" or any of the characters in that series. Still. **

BPOV

There were worse people to be kidnapped by. And though my mind railed against being made to do anything against my will, there was a small part of me that whispered "Well hell Bella, beats whatever else you had planned for the next couple of months."

And though I'd never tell Edward, this actually solved the not inconsiderable problem I'd been faced with until last night of not having a place to live. My parent's house had been in the process of being foreclosed on before they had died, and there was no way my meager earnings as a freelance writer were going to stop that from happening. They had life insurance, but I hadn't received it yet and I doubted it would do much more than pay off some of the considerable debt left in their wake.

My mind touched briefly on the night I'd heard the knock on their door at 2:57 a.m. I knew the exact time because I'd fallen asleep on the couch and had been startled awake by the noise, checking the time on my cell phone to get my bearings. It was a Wednesday. Nothing good ever comes from a policeman standing in the rain on your porch at 2:57 a.m.

"Isabella Swan?" the officer had asked when I opened the door.

"Bella," I corrected automatically. It's strange the way time freezes in those moments. I had time to notice every detail, like the way a raindrop clung to the tip of the officer's nose, swelling and ready to drip but caught as if paused by the gravity of the moment. The man's jacket was frayed near the collar and his hair was damp and dark and dusted with grey. Prickly pieces of stubble had made themselves known on his chin and above his lips. His lips, which were forming words that just didn't make sense. Not at 2:57 a.m. on a Wednesday or any other time or place.

"…an accident. I'm so sorry- your parents didn't make it."

I had missed something at the beginning there, but definitely must have misunderstood that last part.

"I'm sorry," I said slowly. "They didn't make what?" Why wasn't he making sense? Was this even English he was speaking? Were these real words?

"Bella. I'm sorry. They're dead. Your parents are dead."

I shook the memory from my mind, wishing I could lose it forever but resolving to at least rid myself of it for the moment. "Focus on the now Bella," I chided myself. And hell, there was a lot to focus on in the now. I was God knows where with a God knows what (not a zombie, definitely not a zombie) named Edward. And for the time being I was going to have to stay here, at least until I came up with a better plan.

If I was a prisoner, there certainly were less appealing prisons. Edward's house was beautiful. I was old but painstakingly well maintained. It had a vaguely gothic sensibility and a sense of grandeur to which I was unaccustomed. I roamed the halls and explored the various rooms, marveling over the antique items I found throughout.

"Can I get you something to eat?"

His voice startled me, and I spun on my heels to catch Edward repressing a smirk, obviously smug at his ability to catch me unguarded. "No great feat there Mr. Cullen," I thought sarcastically. "I've always been easy pickin's."

"Do you live here all alone?" I asked, ignoring his question and his expression.

"Not anymore, it would seem," he answered.

"It's just such a big house for just one guy," I said. "Didn't you get lonely?"

"You never ask the things I think you would ask," he muttered.

"What should I be asking?"

"'How long will I be forced to stay here?' 'What are you?' 'Do you have premium channels on your satellite package?'… I don't know. Anything other than whether your kidnapper gets lonely," he said.

"Is that what you are? You know I'm not a kid- I'm 21. So if you were trying to be a kidnapper you've pretty much blown it already…"

"21," he muttered.

"Yeah. My birthday was last month. You can owe me a tequila shooter to celebrate," I said sarcastically. "Why? How old are you?"

He paused and I wondered why. He looked for all the world like he was around my age. Well, except for his eyes. His eyes always seemed troubled in a way that made him seem much, much older.

"I was 21, too," he answered.

"'Was? As in…before you turned 22?" I asked, not following.

"As in, before I was killed," he said.

My breath caught in my throat as his words sank in.

"But… I thought you said you weren't a zombie," I began.

"The zombie thing again? I really hoped we were past that," he began in a forced tone, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"What are you?" I interrupted.

"There it is. There's the question," he said. He seemed lost to himself for a moment before meeting my eyes with his own again. "No. I didn't get lonely. I always rather enjoyed my solitude," he said, and it took me a moment to realize he was back to my original question. Fine, be that way, Cullen.

"So sorry to intrude," I said with mock contrition.

"I didn't say I blame you for this regrettable situation, only that I did enjoy my personal space," he said.

Something in his phrasing sent a wave of hurt through me. "Regrettable situation? Is that what I am? You abduct me, after essentially telling a man who was attacking me to go ahead an kill me- which obviously would have been a huge favor for you-and give me nothing but riddles and that's what you call it? A 'regrettable situation'?" I was advancing on him now, wondering where this fury had suddenly bubbled up from.

Edward actually retreated a few steps before seeming to remember that he was the- whatever the hell he was- and I was an 110 pound human woman.

"What? No! That's not what I mean! Stop twisting my words! And how dare you suggest I would rather you were dead," he shouted back, obviously bristled by the implication that he'd prefer I'd been offed.

"Well wouldn't you? Wouldn't that be preferable to me living in your house, invading your space and asking the wrong questions?" I yelled back, obviously losing steam and on the verge of…oh God… not tears. Don't be _that _girl, Bella.

But a quiver escaped my voice. And whatever Edward had planned on firing back at me fell away as he stood starring at me awkwardly, obviously having heard and unaware of what to do.

"I am many, many bad things, Bella," he said softly after a moment. "And I have made the wrong decisions in more instances than I care to count. But the decision to keep you alive…it may be the one good choice I've made. Please don't take that from me. It may be the only right thing I've ever done."

I saw the weight of those words and only nodded in response. We stood there like that, in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry," I finally offered, because I was. Whatever I might think of this man, I did believe in my core that he took my safety quite seriously, even if it was inexplicable that he did.

"Don't be sorry, Bella. I deserve much worse than I suspect you've got heart to give me."

He slowly retreated from the room, leaving me to collect my thoughts.

Minutes passed when I heard his musical voice echo in the room as he called out to me from downstairs.

"Bella?"

"Edward?" I answered, calling back out of the room.

"Vampire. I'm a vampire."

He appeared in front of me with supernatural speed, searching my face for a reaction and holding his arms out in front of him.

"What are you doing?" I asked, distracted from his confession by the odd gesture.

"I just ...Um…wanted to be ready in case you… you know… faint," he finished lamely.

"Faint?"

"Well, you are a woman and I did just tell you I am an undead creature of inexplicable horror," Edward said.

"Okay. Wow. Um. A: What kind of women are you thinking of that just going around fainting. Like, old timey women with Victorian fans that have 'the vapors?' Because this is 2010 Edward. Women don't faint. And B: 'undead creature of inexplicable horror?' Who talks like that? And get over yourself. That puppet from the "Saw" movies is like a billion times more scary than you."

" What? I'm scary! Vampires are scary! What puppet guy?" he shot back, indignant.

"Ugh, never mind. I'm hungry," I said leaving the room and walking back toward the stairs.

"Can I, um, make you a peanut butter sandwich?" Edward asked, following me.

"Will it be a peanut butter sandwich of inexplicable horror?" I asked , repressing a laugh.

And then it happened: Edward smiled. Not a smirk. Not a grin. Not a pale imitation of the real thing- an actual smile. And something in me caught fire.

" Not the peanut butter, no. But I make no promises about the jelly," he replied wryly.

I focused every ounce of my concentration into shaking off the strange reaction his smile had caused in me.

"Bite me," I said before heading down the stairs.

"Ha ha, vampire humor. Classy," he said and followed me toward the kitchen.

And so it was that over peanut butter and jelly on Wonder Bread that that knock on the door at 2:57 a.m. on that fateful Wednesday seemed very far away for the first time in a long, long while.

**A/N: Reviewers THANK YOU! Each and every one of you deserves a peanut butter sandwich of inexplicable horror. If you are reading this then please please please take a minute to let me know if you're liking it, what you're liking, what you're hating, whatever. This is my first (and probably only) fic so show some love and give some feedback. It is very appreciated. Also, I'm sorry for any typos, I'm always kind of hammering this out in bits and pieces and I don't have anyone to proof it so…eek. Thanks again for giving this story a chance and make sure to subscribe if you want to see how it all plays out.**


	6. Tempers & other things you can't control

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of those characters or basically anything cool. No infringement is intended.**

EPOV

Well, if there was a God, He certainly had a sense of humor. From the moment I was born into this second life I had been inundated with the thoughts of others. Their petty concerns and greater tragedies, their many failings, their dreams, their losses…every errant thought. And there are no words for how awful it is. First, it is a constant reminder of how truly selfish and awful most people are. Everyone, it seemed, lied. Everyone cheated and lusted and coveted and wished ill unto others. And on the off chance I did pick up on a stray decent thought, that person was almost inevitably being plagued with troubles, as though being punished for their goodness. And all I ever wanted was to just make it stop. Sure, it was handy to know the thoughts of my victims so I could try and ease my conscience a bit, but that was no real consolation in the grand scheme of things.

My ability had essentially forced me into isolation. It's difficult enough to tolerate cohabitating with someone under normal circumstances. Add to that their inability to have any real privacy from me when it came to their thoughts, and my inability to have any real sense of solitude when they where within a certain radius of me and it was just a bad situation waiting to happen. So I had existed alone, keeping mostly to myself except for my dealings with James and occasional visits from Emmett and Rose.

And if anyone had ever told me there was someone, anyone, from whose thoughts I would be shielded I would have most likely thought about how pleasant it might be to be able to be near that person without hearing all of their damn internal dialogue. And I would insist that the last thing I would ever, ever miss is knowing their mind.

Joke's on me, huh?

As it turned out, the only person I'd known in this un-life whose thoughts I'd actually love to have access to was the only person whose mind was silent to me. And here she was, sitting calmly across the table from me, slurping on milk from her cereal and firing still more random questions at me. And as always, never the ones I'd think most relevant.

"So what about slayers? I mean, is there really a Buffy out there just dusting you all?"

I sighed. If it wasn't Bram Stoker it was Joss Whedon. Somebody was always getting us wrong, but at least Whedon didn't have us turning into bats.

"No. No slayer," I said, wondering if Bella would ever just get to the important part regarding what I was.

"Can you turn into mist?" she asked, eyes sparkling in obvious amusement.

I shook my head and stood up. She thought this was some kind of fucking joke. Like I was the Disney version of a once-deadly fairy tale. But this was no fairy tale, and I was not something warm and fuzzy. I was cold, and fast, and strong. I was death. And she was too naive to understand that.

Not that I wanted her to be terrified. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't vaguely pleased with Bella's ease with me. But it didn't make sense and it wasn't safe. I knew that, even if she didn't. She needed to understand what she was dealing with. She needed to know I wasn't the hero of this story. She needed to be afraid.

Bella cleared her dishes and headed back upstairs, probably to resume her thorough exploration of the house. I brooded as I wandered off to my study on the ground floor. I heard her footsteps above me and tried to focus on some papers I had promised to look over for James. I hadn't been focused on anything related to work the past few days and it was time to turn my attention back to anything other than Bella. I had just began scanning the page in front of me when my minds registered the presence of another vampire on the property.

Fuck. It was Emmett.

I met him at the door, blocking him before he could let himself in.

"Still rooming with the blood bag ,eh?" he said, surreptitiously sniffing the air.

"Bella," I corrected.

"Oh, 'Bella' now, is it?" he asked with a smirk, and pushed past me into the house.

"Yes, Bella. And keep your voice down, I don't feel like making introductions right now," I hissed.

"I'd hate to upset the walking juice box," he joked, but I rounded on him, pushing his substantial frame against the wall.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Relax bro!" Emmett said, holding his large hands in front of him as a sign of submission. "Touchy about the girl, I get it."

"I'm not touchy. I just don't need you talking about her as a beverage. She could hear you for God's sake," I said.

"Bullshit," he laughed. "There's no way in fuck a human is hearing me talk at this level. It's not _her_ that's upset by what I said."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything, Captain Drama. I'm just _observing _that you don't like me talking about getting all sucky sucky with your roommate," Emmett said.

"Fuck you," I muttered, walking away from him.

"So what's the deal anyway?" he asked, following on my heels. "Are you two, like, friends? Please don't tell me you're thinking of bangin' her because I don't even kno-"

"SHUT UP!" I hissed, rounding on Emmett again.

"Holy shit, you are touchy about this chick!"

"I. Am. Not. Touchy. And no, of course we're not friends. She's a human," I said defensively. Why did that feel like a lie? We weren't friends. Were we?

"Well it's a good fucking thing you're not. Because like you said; Human. That means a short life span- especially if she's living around us. Remember that. And for God's sake, don't get attached."

"Who are you speaking to Emmett?" I asked. "I never get attached." The words sounded cold to my ears, and I was strangely glad Bella wasn't here to hear them.

"Then don't start now. That's all I'm saying," Emmett said, uncharacteristically serious.

"Fine, sure. Now do me a favor and get the fuck out okay?"

"Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to intrude on your special 'Eddy alone time,'" Emmett said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively and snapping back into his normal, smart assed self.

Bella spent the rest of the day exploring the house while I spent the rest of the day mulling over Emmett's comments. I wasn't getting attached, right? I barely knew this woman. She was just an interesting distraction in the life of a monster. Definitely not attached.

But his words kept bothering me, as did her own seeming lack of self-preservation, and by the time I heard her wander into the kitchen for something to eat for dinner I was in a decidedly foul mood. Bella either didn't notice or was pretending not to. She chatted away brightly as she assembled a sandwich , looking strangely at ease in the too-big track pants and t-shirt I'd loaned her until we got her more clothes.

"So what about running water? Can you cross over running water? Oh, and what about mirrors? Do you have a reflection?" she asked lightly while unbeknownst to her I seethed at her cavalier attitude toward this most certainly fatal predicament in which she'd cast herself.

"Why don't you ask me the only fucking thing that matters?" I said darkly.

My tone caught her off guard, and she stopped what she was doing to face me, taking in my angered appearance.

"What should I be asking you, Edward?" she asked quietly.

"Ask. Me. What. I. Eat," I said menacingly.

She blinked and took an instinctive step away from me.

"Or ask me _who_, if you'd prefer," I added, being sure to really drive it home.

"Wh- why are you doing this?" Bella stammered. "Why are you trying to scare me?"

"Because I am scary. And because you damn well should be scared."

"But… but I thought," she began.

"You thought what? That I was the good kind of vampire? The friendly kind that goes around befriending women and hugging puppies and shoveling the snow for my neighbors? Wake up! I am a killer, Bella. I am a monster and I will almost certainly destroy you, violently. If you for one instant believe anything other than that then you're even dumber than you proved yourself to be in that alley," I yelled.

And, oh, God, her face. There was fear, but I'd expected fear. Hell, I'd _wanted_ fear. But the hurt I saw there, the glimpse of broken trust…it hit me like a fist.

And then she was running.

Bella broke past me and flew through the front door, speeding out into the night. And I could have easily caught her, but part of me was glad she was running. Finally a reaction that made sense. I was a monster and this is what people do when confronted by a monster; They run.

I heard her sobs mix with her footfalls and wondered how far I should let her get before I dragged her back inside. I doubted she'd make it anywhere near the gated entrance of my long driveway even if I let her run for 5 minutes or more, but I worried about her straining her shoulder wound if I let her go. As if on cue the smell of her blood pierced the night and I knew it was time to go after her before she hurt herself. That's when I heard him.

It wasn't clear thoughts, exactly, but with vampires it often isn't. He'd smelled her blood, and he wanted her. And then I was running.

Bella's scream cut through the air and in the next instant I was colliding with her attacker. Animalistic snarls ripped from both my throat and his as I tore him away from her. He reacted with the instincts of any animal whose targeted prey is being threatened, and he clawed and punched and tore. I felt the skin by my shoulder sliced open but it barely registered. All I could think about was how I had to keep him from harming Bella.

We continued our fight and I heard Bella yell at someone to "Stop, please stop!" but asking a vampire to stop trying to kill someone doesn't work in any of the stories, and it sure as shit doesn't work in the real world. I finally pinned the intruder long enough to see his face, and watched as recognition blazed over it.

James.

Slowly, watching for clues that he might resume his attack, I began to release my business partner.

"Edward," he said dryly, brushing himself off as we both stood up.

"James."

"Should I take it, then, that you've called dibs on this tasty morsel?" he asked, casting a pointed stare at Bella as she sat stunned and shaking on the cold ground. Her hands were caked with mud and her knees were grass stained, causing me to assume she'd tripped while running in my oversized pants. Great. Yet another injury to add to my tally with her.

I nodded at James and said "This one is mine," hoping Bella would, for once, show enough good instinct to stay quiet and still.

James considered this for a moment, mentally weighing how good she would taste against how much he needed my particular talents for our business. This sort of mental exchange being so unguarded was unusual for James, since he typically was able to focus on other things in my presence in order to guard his private thoughts. I could only assume it was because he was still coming down from the adrenaline surge brought about by the blood lust he'd just experienced.

"Fair enough," he said finally. "My apologies, then. I just stopped by for that paperwork and since you're not in the habit of keeping…pets… I assumed this one was a trespasser and therefore fair game." He was being sure to speak slowly enough for Bella to understand him, making sure she knew how little he thought of her.

"You are not to touch her. Do you understand me James?" I said.

He raised an eyebrow, as if trying to decipher some new and interesting puzzle.

"Understood," he said.

We stared at one another for a long moment, before he finally spoke again.

"I think in light of tonight's… misunderstanding… I'll come back and collect that paperwork another time." The implication behind his words wasn't lost on me, and I knew without question I would be receiving another visit from James soon.

"That's probably for the best," I said, wishing he'd just go already. I was anxious to examine Bella to see how hurt she was. Finally, with another speculative glance at Bella and myself, James turned and left my property. I waited until I was sure he was gone before I relaxed my stance and turned my attention to Bella.

"Are you okay?" I asked, moving slowly to her side so as not to startle her.

"You're hurt," she whispered, taking a delicate hand a placing it near the gash on my shoulder.

"I'm fine, it's fine," I said quickly, trying to ignore the feeling elicited by her small hand on me.

She studied the wound for another moment, unsure if she believed me. Finally she stood up and offered a tentative hand to me, as if I might need her help to stand. I took it and tried not to smile at the ridiculousness of her trying to assist me.

"Let's get you back inside so I can look at the wound… maybe put the vampire of equivalent hydrogen peroxide on it …" she began.

"Bella… I'm sorry. About… inside. I just… I'm not safe for you." I said, walking back toward the house while taking a mental inventory of every scratch and cut she'd received in her failed escape. Thank God I'd reached her just as James had. She'd suffered nothing worse than a bruise or two from the whole incident with him.

"It's alright," she sighed as we finally neared the front door. "You're hardly the first person to call me stupid."

I stepped in front of her, grabbing her shoulders and willing her to look at me. She didn't.

"Bella, listen to me. All of that stuff I said…about me being a monster and something to fear… that's all true, all of it. And if you ever forget that… if you ever for one second lose sight of that, you might die."

She starred at the ground and nodded once to acknowledge she'd heard me.

"But the part about you being dumb, I didn't mean that, okay? That was a bad thing said by a bad man, and don't you ever, ever believe it."

Bella finally met my gaze, searching my eyes with her own.

"Who are you?" she murmured. I didn't know how to answer her so I moved to hold open the door instead.

"I'm sorry I scared you. But you can't run away again, okay? The world isn't safe for you anymore and next time I might not be able to get to you in time," I said, leading her into to sitting room. She surprised me by kneeling beside me to get a closer look at my wound.

"It's almost healed already," she whispered, tracing the jagged line of previously opened flesh with her index finger. I tried to remember the last time someone had touched me in a consolatory way, but couldn't.

"Who was he?" Bella asked, rousing me from me thoughts.

"The vampire? James," I answered.

"Is he like… a friend of yours?" Bella asked.

"Friend? No. He's my business partner," I began.

"Oh," Bella said, her lower lip forming a bit of a pout as she reflected on that information.

"And," I added as an afterthought, "he's also the guy who made me into a vampire."

**A/N: Reviewers, I love you. You each deserve a Q and A session with Edward over a bowl of Cheerios. Lurkers, please consider fighting against your fear of reviewing stories and leaving just a teeny tiny lil' review. Promise I won't tell. Thanks to everyone who has marked this story as a favorite and/or subscribed. Much appreciated.**


	7. Hunger & other things we have in common

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Twilight or any of its characters. If I did there possibly would have been a choreographed dance sequence. Just sayin'.**

EPOV

Over the next several days Bella and I fell into something of a routine. Well, as routine as it gets for a human woman and her vampire captor, but a routine nonetheless. She spent her days painstakingly picking through the rooms of my house, occasionally asking about some treasure or other she'd unearthed. Much of what she found had been left by previous owners, so I couldn't provide much insight on the history of whatever object she was wondering about.

"Isn't anything in this place _yours_?" she asked one day in obvious frustration.

I shrugged. "Vampire, remember? Kind of hard for me to stay in one place too long without kind of decimating the local population. That means a lot of moving which in turn means learning to travel light."

She frowned at that, but I wasn't sure which part of what I said had elicited the reaction. With a typical woman I'd assume it was the reference to murdering the townsfolk, but my Bella was anything but typical. Wait… _my_ Bella? Why did I think that. She was a lot of things, but she wasn't mine. "Just 'Bella'" I corrected myself in my thoughts. "Never mine."

By the time she had been with me more than a week I was getting hungry- not a great thing if I was intending to keep Bella alive. I had an unusual amount of self-control for a vampire, but I could never afford to forget my true nature.

"I'm going out tonight," I told Bella as she ate something repulsive for dinner. She was wearing one of the new shirts I'd had delivered for her, along with some new jeans, and some part of me realized she looked sort of pretty sitting at my table in the fading light.

She stopped eating and looked at me, unsure of what to say.

I nervously raked my hands through my hair, wondering why I even cared what her reaction to this news would be. I didn't need her approval, did I? "Hell no. I'm a bad ass vampire," I thought to myself, instantly glad I hadn't said it aloud because Bella would have teased me about that little self-affirmation for weeks. Come to think of it, just seeing the smile it would bring to her face might make it worth the ridicule… Oh for fuck's sake. Get it together. God I needed to go kill someone.

"Will you come back?" she asked finally.

Would she ever say anything I expected? "Yes. Of course," I answered.

She offered a little half smile at that, although I couldn't imagine why that would be interpreted as good news to her. Yippee, Bella, the undead bloodsucking guy that abducted you will be right back to make sure you never leave here to live your own life again! Hurray!

"I probably don't even need to tell you that you can't leave while I'm out," I said.

She nodded again before returning to eating whatever revolting thing was on her plate.

I waited until Bella was in bed before leaving the house. If I hadn't been so hungry I probably would have nixed the whole idea. Leaving her alone made me deeply and indefinably uncomfortable. My trip to the city was punctuated with concerns centered on the young woman alone in my large house. What if she woke up and decided to try to leave? What if something happened and she hurt herself while I was gone? What if she found a way to contact someone for help? What if… Focus, Edward.

Opening my mind, I let the flood of thoughts from others overtake me. Most were pedestrian, mundane, everyday things. But finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was in reality only a matter of a few hours, I was able to hone in on someone thinking dark ideas. His wife had discovered his most recent affair and was planning on leaving him. "Stupid bitch thinks I'll let her get half of what I've worked to get…No fucking way," the man thought, running his hand over his the pistol he'd just gotten.

He never even had time to scream.

The trip back to Forks had never seemed so long. Even with the fresh blood coursing through my system I couldn't seem to move fast enough. Would Bella still be there? What would I do if she wasn't? I'd have to start by just tracking her scent… My mind flashed briefly to the night she'd tried to run and how easily I'd caught her, but instead of reassuring me it triggered a horrific idea: James. He had said he'd be back. He'd wanted her- that much had been obvious.

James had made me- saved me if anyone could thinking of being brought into this sort of existence- and I felt a tremendous sense of obligation to him for that. But I didn't like him. And I didn't trust him, not at all. I went faster, if that was possible.

As soon as I was within sight of the house I could smell Bella, and knew she hadn't made any attempt to escape. I detected no hint of James or any other vampire on the property, but before that observation could sooth me Bella screamed. And screamed. And screamed.

The landscape blurred as I sped into the house and to her bedroom, ready to fend of whatever dared attack her. I stopped short by her bed and was confused to find the room empty except for her. She was still in bed and as I tried to deduce what had upset her so much she let out another anguished cry.

What the fuck?

She whipped back and forth under the covers and seemed to be fighting off some unseen attacker. It took a full minute before I understood what I was seeing; Bella was having a nightmare.

"Gee, can't imagine why," I thought to myself sarcastically. "Certainly nothing to do with being attacked in a dark alley and then abducted by a vampire. Nope, nothing upsetting about that."

"They're dead," she half-sobbed.

What did she mean by that? Who was dead? I mean, I'm dead… that guy in the alley is dead… But I had the distinct impression she wasn't talking about either of us.

I walked up to the side of her bed and reached a tentative hand to her, brushing a strand of hair from her worried brow. I was surprised to see calm spread over her features, and a smile play at the corner of her lips.

"Edward," she murmured. And something in me rejoiced at the sound of it.

"Shhhh. It's okay," I soothed and sat beside her on the bed. She settled back into peaceful slumber, and I stayed by her side until just before morning, only leaving when I sensed she was almost ready to wake.

Bad ass vampire indeed.

I had just finished emailing James some information- no need to chance him stopping by again so soon, although I knew it was inevitable that he'd be back eventually- when I heard music coming from the kitchen. Bella had gotten up a while ago and I'd heard her start the shower, but I hadn't paid much attention to when she finally had wandered downstairs to get some breakfast. Apparently she had made it to the kitchen now and had flipped on the radio in that room. I was careful not to alert her to my presence as I walked in her direction, curious as to what she was doing.

Now, as I've said before, I'm pretty old, and I'm a vampire so… I've seen some things. Some I'd care to forget and others I'd never be able to describe, but let me just say I'd never seen anything quite like Bella in the filmy sun of the kitchen that morning. She was wearing an apron she'd dug up somewhere and whisking something in a bowl she was holding and happily swaying her hips to the song on the radio that sat on the marble countertop.

And she was singing.

Badly.

"I waaant you to want meee…"

Oh. My. God.

I tried to smother my laughter, but there was no denying the smile that overtook my face at the scene playing out before me.

"I neeed you to need me…. I'd loooove you to looove me, I'm begging you to beg me," she sang, whisking and sashaying and rocking along to the music. She looked absolutely ridiculous, and so, so happy. I could literally have watched her there, like that, forever.

Unfortunately she spun around just then and caught sight of me smirking at her, causing her to gasp in surprise and drop the bowl of… whatever the hell that was she was mixing. I caught it before it hit the floor and she made a startled little sound.

"Um, thanks," she muttered shyly, tucking a lock of brown hair behind her ear.

"Please don't stop on my account," I said, grinning.

"I thought maybe you were still out," she said.

"And instead of making a break for it you decided to make…what the hell are you making anyway?"

"Pancakes," she answered. "I'd offer you some, but I'm guessing you already ate."

Was she seriously joking about this?

"And besides," she continued "I told you I'd stay."

"Just like that? You'll stay because I told you to?" I asked, incredulous.

"Well, that and because every time I'm not with you someone's trying to kill me," she answered.

"It is becoming sort of a habit for you," I agreed.

"So I guess we're sort of stuck with each other for a while," she said, biting her bottom lip in that strange little habit of hers.

"Guess we better make the most of it," I said, and uncharacteristically held out my hand to her. She hesitated a moment before accepting it and I pulled her to close to me. I heard her heart speed up and her breath hitch a little at the contact. I smirked at her involuntary reaction.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked quietly.

"Just showing you how it's done," I said with a grin, and began to spin and dip and dance her around the kitchen in time with the music. Her stunned smile gave way to laughter and she did her best to move with me, as one song changed into another. I swung her gracefully toward a pool of light when she suddenly stopped smiling and gasped.

"What?" I asked looking around for anything that might have startled her.

"Edward, the sun! I never asked. Oh God, will it hurt if it gets on you?" she asked, her face the picture of concern.

I laughed. "Um, no, not exactly."

"But all the stories…"

"…got that part wrong." I finished for her.

"So then, if it doesn't hurt, what does happen? It's been so grey out all this time I've never gotten a chance to find out."

"Nothing interesting," I said, clearly blowing her off.

"Nothing interesting?" she asked skeptically.

Shit.

"Imaybelookalittledifferent," I said quickly.

"I'm sorry, I did quite catch that."

"I look a little… different… in the sun."

"Different how, exactly?" she asked.

I sighed, resigned that she wouldn't just drop it and held my exposed forearm into the ray of sun filtering into the kitchen. Beams of light danced and refracted off my skin, exposing me as the very un-human thing I was.

"It's so … pretty…" she breathed.

Oh for crap's sake. Pretty. Seriously? I rolled my eyes and yanked my arm back from the light. I looked at her to see she was fighting back a smirk at my reaction.

"What now?" I asked.

"Why Edward Cullen, are you afraid that looking like you've rolled around in the glitter aisle at a craft supplies store makes you somehow less terrifying?"

"That depends… you still terrified?" I asked, offering a roguish grin.

"Completely horrified," she said, with a look of mock sincerity.

"Go make your damn pancakes," I said with a chuckle before backing out of the kitchen. That's right, a chuckle. Dracula's got nothin' on me.

**A/N: The song Bella was singing was "I want you to want me" by Cheap Trick, which I also do not own and did not write. If you don't know it, find it and play it. And possibly dance to it while making pancakes. Just a suggestion. Thanks a bajillion (yes, bajillion) times over to everyone who has taken a moment or two to review. If not for the kind words I definitely would have stopped bothering to write this or at the very least ended it very abruptly with "and then they all died. The End."**

**If you've read this far you must not be entirely hating it unless you are really masochistic. PLEASE REVIEW and remember to subscribe for updates. Thanks again. **


	8. Dead people & other uninvited guests

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters. I do own a 6" veggie sub, but I'm about to take care of that.**

BPOV:

I knew it was hoping for too much to think the nightmares were gone. They'd plagued me since that night…the night the officer knocked on my door. And it was foolish to think even events as unusual as the ones transpiring in my life at the moment would be enough to hold the nightmares at bay forever.

The loss of a loved one is a hard thing to describe. Everything looks essentially the same, but nothing _feels_ the same. A hairbrush still sits in a drawer in the bathroom, but you know she will never brush her hair again. Fish caught last summer still occupy the freezer, but you know he'll never eat them and never bring home more. There are shoes suddenly left without owners, beds with no one to sleep in them, books with endings that will never be revealed to a reader who will never read again. There's a coffee ring on the kitchen table you can't bring yourself to scrub away and sunglasses on a desk meant for eyes that will never see another sunrise. And it's all just pointless because they're dead.

And people come and go. They mourn and remember. They bring casseroles as though this new emptiness can be filled by food. And for a long time, they have the decency to look solemn when they see you, careful not to let on that the world has not ended for everyone, only for you.

Television shows still occupy their usual timeslots. Your personal tragedy, no matter how great, does not warrant a break in the regularly scheduled programming. Kids still ride by on bikes and birds still chirp. The sun still sets, the breeze still blows and it's all just so, so wrong. Because the food doesn't taste right anymore. And the music doesn't sound the way it used to. But you're supposed to be strong, so you pretend. You put on your clothes and eat your eggs and nod your head because that's what people do, right?

And then one day, you decide you have to participate in life again, so you agree to meet your friend for dinner. But she never shows…

I blinked, trying to shake off these thoughts. It was a wonder I'd had any nights at all without the nightmares. I'd began to wonder if maybe Edward was saving me from those too. Seems he was always left saving me from something. But the dream had returned, more graphic than before as though it was determined to make up for the reprieve I'd been granted. And I'd been screaming in the dream- I was always screaming. But then… something had shifted. Something calming and protective. Something that felt like home, the way home felt before it had been shattered.

I'd slept peacefully the rest of the night, and woke up in the best mood I'd been in since that awful Wednesday. And I knew just how to celebrate: Pancakes.

The house seemed empty after I showered, and I wondered where Edward might be. It was possible he was still out- I had no idea how long it took for him to perform his crime-fighting shtick. I briefly wondered how many women like me he encountered in a year, and if he'd ever brought any of the others back to his house. The thought made me uncomfortable, and I was unwilling to lose this unusual sense of lightheartedness so I brushed it aside. I began assembling the ingredients needed for pancakes and flipped on the radio as I whisked. Oh. Hell. Yeah. I loved this song.

"I waaant you to want meee…" I sang, aware that I was painfully off-key but not particularly concerned.

"I neeed you to need me…. I'd loooove you to looove me, I'm begging you to beg me." I whisked and danced and sang, reveling in the feeling of peace that had settled over me. I knew it didn't make sense to feel so happy, not with things being so complicated, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was exactly where I needed to be. And if that meant being with Edward…Holy crap he was starring at me!

Surprised, I dropped the bowl with the pancake mix in it. Edward flashed to my side, catching it before it hit the ground. Damn, I wish I had a superpower.

"Um, thanks," I'm said dumbly.

"Please don't stop on my account," he said, obviously amused by my clumsiness.

I didn't know how to even begin to explain my ridiculous behavior. "I thought maybe you were still out," I said lamely.

"And instead of making a break for it you decided to make…what the hell are you making anyway?"

Truth be told, I hadn't even considered running again. Maybe it was because the outside world seemed full of people ready to kill me, but it was more likely because I had no place else to be. No way in hell I was telling Edward that though. I seemed pathetic enough without telling him that being his quasi-prisoner was the best option I had at the moment.

"Pancakes," I answered, trying to focus. "I'd offer you some, but I'm guessing you already ate."

Ohhhh. That didn't sound good. Think _then _speak Bella.

"And besides," I continued, hoping to breeze past my awkward comment, "I told you I'd stay."

"Just like that? You'll stay because I told you to?" he asked.

"Yes Edward, I'm that lame. I have so very few reasons to leave that you telling me to stay is reason enough to listen. And by the way, the fact that you're gorgeous and have a seriously interesting bad boy/ hero thing going isn't hurting either," I thought, but decided against saying.

"Well, that and because every time I'm not with you someone's trying to kill me," I said aloud instead.

"It is becoming sort of a habit for you," he agreed. Yeah, buddy, you don't know the half of it. Danger finds me in whatever form it can, be it vampires or muggers. And when I'm not available it takes out the people I love in car accidents…but I wouldn't think about that.

"So I guess we're sort of stuck with each other for a while," I said, strangely nervous he'd tell me to go home now. Shouldn't I want that?

"Guess we better make the most of it," he said and extended a hand toward me. What the hell? Did he decide to snack on me after all? Or did I just strike him as so clumsy I needed assistance to even stand still? I eyed him suspiciously but decided to trust him. He pulled me into him and a new idea occurred to me; What if he kissed me?

"Wh-what are you doing?" I asked as my heart thrummed in my chest.

"Just showing you how it's done," he answered, a smirk blazing across his face. And then we were dancing.

Now, for the record, I don't dance. I mean, aside from shaking my hips while whipping up some pancake batter in a vampire's kitchen apparently. But aside from that, I don't dance. I'm clumsy and I embarrass myself enough just walking. The possibility that someone will lose an eye just seems a bit too probable if I'm trying to move in time to a rhythm with another person.

But with Edward it was effortless. He was so graceful that it more than compensated for my utter lack of grace. The room spun and swirled and rose and fell and it was…well… amazing. I was having so much fun I almost began to wonder why these Fred Astaire qualities never got a mention in all the vampire legends I'd heard. Apparently the whole burned by sunlight thing was just more interesting…wait. I stopped my previous train of thought and gasped as I realized we were about to spin into a sunbeam pouring through the kitchen window.

"What?" he asked, observing my sudden panic..

"Edward, the sun! I never asked. Oh God, will it hurt if it gets on you?" I asked. I was a little surprised at my sudden concern for the wellbeing of my vampire captor, but I couldn't deny I felt it.

He laughed. Laughed! "Um, no, not exactly."

"But all the stories…" I said. Damn it, didn't they get anything right? No turning into bats, no fear of crosses, no stake through the heart and now the sunlight thing? Jeez people, do your research.

"…got that part wrong." he said.

"So then, if it doesn't hurt, what does happen? It's been so grey out all this time I've never gotten a chance to find out," I asked, curious now.

"Nothing interesting," he said. And it was obvious he was lying.

"Nothing interesting?" I asked, making it clear I doubted him.

He muttered something I couldn't understand. No way was I letting him out of it that easy. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," I said.

"I look a little… different… in the sun."

What the hell did that mean? Did he grow tentacles? Did he sprout horns? Maybe I would finally find something aside from a short temper and an unappealing diet that made me see something truly monstrous about Edward. "Different how, exactly?" I asked.

He sighed and held his bare arm into the sunbeam. And it. Was. Glorious.

I know the idea of sparkly vampires sounds a little weak, but let me tell you, it was indescribably beautiful. And somehow fitting that he looked so, magical, for lack of a better word.

"It's so … pretty…" I said stupidly. Great Bella. You just called him pretty. Perfect.

He rolled his eyes and I couldn't help but smirk at his self-conscience reaction to my words. "What now?" he asked, observing my smile.

"Why Edward Cullen, are you afraid that looking like you've rolled around in the glitter aisle at a craft supplies store makes you somehow less terrifying?" I asked, hoping to regain some semblance of equal footing with this man.

"That depends… you still terrified?" he asked, grinning in a way that did dangerous things to my heart.

"Completely horrified," I said, trying to keep up the smart-ass persona. It was probably the only way I'd get through this without sounding like a school girl at a Justin Bieber concert.

"Go make your damn pancakes," he laughed and left the kitchen. I could only pray he didn't see me moments later as I sank to the ground with my back to the wall, heart racing and mind venturing down alleys I shouldn't explore.

After cleaning up breakfast I went back to exploring Edward's Big Ass House as I now thought of it (EBAH for short). I had gone through most of the rooms with painstaking thoroughness by now. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I felt there had to be something in here, some clue as to who Edward Cullen was.

I had just finished with a storage room when I heard Edward step outside, talking in that strange ultra fast way vampires do. I peeked out the window and could just make out his form talking with another man. The man looked familiar but it took me a few moments to realize it was the vampire that had almost killed me the other night- the one who had hurt Edward; James.

I ducked back behind the window, scared to give any sign of my presence. I slipped into the closest room and shut the door behind me, though I knew logically it would offer no real protection for me if James decided to make a meal of me.

As I tried to calm myself I began to take in the room around me. Edward's study. I'd never been in here, and while I wanted to respect his privacy I was also becoming desperate for some information about the person I was living with. As my eyes roved the room they caught sight of something gold on his desk. I hesitated before going to explore, but reasoned Edward had never expressly forbid me from coming in here. Curiosity won out and I crossed to the desk, finding the object to be an antique locket. Glancing behind me to be sure I was still alone, I opened the thin oval to reveal the faded picture it contained. The woman staring back at me from the picture was beautiful. Dark hair, delicate features, wisp of a smile, maybe a year or two younger than I. She was gorgeous. Just the sort of woman Edward should have carry a picture of.

My heart fell and I placed the necklace back on the desk. I allowed myself a moment of self-pity. I could never be in the same league as the woman I'd just seen. This was the sort of creature Edward treasured. I was just some poor thing he pitied, and I'd been a fool to ever let myself even begin to think any differently.

I turned to leave and saw Edward leaned against the doorframe, watching me. Damn, tricky, silent vampires.

"I…I…" I began, unsure of what to say.

He raised an eyebrow, questioning me.

"I saw that James guy was here and I got a little freaked out and hid in here," I said, running most of the words together but assuming he'd understand since vampires all spoke quickly anyhow.

"I wouldn't let him hurt you, you know," he said sounding disarmingly gentle as he appeared at my side. I nodded.

We stood in awkward silence for a minute before I worked up the courage to speak the question he must have guessed was perched on my lips. He'd seen me examining the locket. He had to know I'd wonder.

"Who is she?" I asked finally, averting my eyes from him.

He stood behind me and reached around my side to retrieve the delicate piece of jewelry from the desk. I waited for the rage to come from him, the result of my intrusion into his personal space. He'd made it clear he was a private person, and this would be invasive to even someone who was generally open about things. I steeled myself for his reaction.

But it never came.

When I chanced a look at his face there was only an ancient sadness.

"Her name was Alice," he said softly. "She was my sister."

Okay… did not see that one coming.

"She's beautiful," I said, unsure of what could be said that wouldn't upset the delicate balance of the moment.

"She was," he said sadly. "Very beautiful, and very, very kind. I think she would have liked you," he added.

I took a moment to think about that, to picture another life in another time and place where I would have been friends with the dark haired beauty in the locket, perhaps sharing secrets and going shopping. I shook the thought from my mind though; I had more than enough people to mourn for without missing a woman I'd never known.

"What happened to her?" I asked softly.

"She died. Long ago," he answered. "It was my fault."

I didn't know what to say to that either, so I didn't. I chose instead to absorb the silence and offer only a small nod to let him know I'd heard him. I turned to look at him directly and was caught off guard by the unbridled pain I saw on his face. Regret, remorse, loss, and failure stole across his features, weaving a mask of tragedy in their wake. Before I had time to think about it I was hugging him.

Edward stood still as a statue, obviously surprised by my sudden attempt at comfort. He seemed unsure of what his part in this was, but finally lifted his own arms to encircle my frame. We stayed like that for a long time- too long really. But I didn't want to let go and he wasn't making me. When I finally released him he looked uncomfortable and I almost regretted the gesture. Almost.

He ran a nervous hand through his hair as I turned and headed out of the study and toward the staircase.

"What did James want?" I asked as an afterthought as I began to climb the stairs.

"There's a, um, company function coming up. He wanted to be sure I would be in attendance," he answered. There was something strange in his tone but I couldn't figure out just what it was.

"Oh, well that's not so bad," I said, and continued up the stairs.

"There's one thing though, Bella," he began nervously. I stopped. When a vampire sounds nervous it seems smart to pay attention. "The function I mentioned? It's a formal thing. A dance, kind of."

Oh great, he was going to be spreading his Fred Astaire moves all over in front of God knows how many women. Not that I cared. He was just my kidnapper, or whatever, I reminded myself.

"Oh that's… nice," I answered. It wasn't, but oh well.

"I need you to accompany me," he spat out.

"You… what now?" I asked. His tone had confused me because it sounded like he wanted me to go, but he didn't _want _me to go, and that made no sense.

"I need for you to accompany me to the dance," he said.

"I'm confused," I began.

"I'm afraid James insisted. And I'm in no position to refuse," Edward said, obviously pissed.

Oh, okay, that made more sense. James wanted to kill me again.

"I won't let anyone hurt you," Edward said, sensing my shift in mood. "But I'm afraid I can't protect you any other way."

"So let me get this straight;" I began "there's a dance, it's some fancy business thing, and that guy who tried to eat me last week insists that I come with?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Do I have a choice?" I asked.

"Not really," he said sounding a bit depressed.

"Will there be an open bar?"

He raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I suppose there will be some beverages for the humans in attendance," he answered.

What the hell. It's not like I had a choice here anyhow.

"Alright then, let's do this. When is it?" I asked.

"Next week. Are you sure?" he responded.

"I said I'll go. But they better have some decent booze," I joked.

"Great then," he said sounding relived. "It's a date."

The word "date" hung in the air like a fart in church on a hot day.

"Way to make it awkward Edward," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Completely awkward Bella. I'll see you later."

"Later," I agreed and retreated to my bedroom.

Sure it was awkward. Sure it was forced. Sure there was the threat of death and it was only because neither of us had been left with any other option. Sure. But I had a date with Edward Cullen. I couldn't help but smile.

**A/N: Looong chapter for me so hoping you like it. Thanks so much to each of you who has taken time to review. In case you wondered, here's how that scenario plays out: You read the story. You think "this doesn't entirely suck." You leave a review saying "this doesn't entirely suck" or something even nicer. I see that review and smile like a Bella with a date with Edward. And happy people write faster, that's just science, people. ;) I've also been meaning to mention there are some really great fics I've been reading, all listed in my 'favorite stories' section of my profile. Check 'em out. What's the best thing you're reading right now? Always looking for more good stuff. Thanks again! **


	9. Birthday gifts & other painful reminders

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Twilight or its characters. Fo' realz, yo.**

**EPOV**

What was I doing? Dancing in the kitchen, sharing personal history… this was not me. What happened to Edward Cullen: Badass vampire? Or, Edward Cullen: Brooding loner? Now I was sharing and caring and….damn it. When did I become the vampire equivalent of Spongebob Squarepants?

There was really no denying it at this point; Bella Swan was having some sort of effect on me. And James knew it.

I sat in my study breezing my fingers over the delicate gold of the locket. "So we'll always be together," I recalled Alice's light voice saying with a laugh as she handed it to me. "Happy birthday, brother." So much of my life as a human was lost or muddied in my memory, but that moment with Alice remained as clear as a snapshot. Somehow I'd held on to that- to her-and I was grateful, even if it served as a permanent reminder of my failure with her.

And now there was another girl depending on me to keep her safe…

I stood, restless, hearing the low and steady sounds of Bella's heartbeat and breathing as she slept in her room upstairs. Quietly, I slipped outside, needing to get out of my own head and take in the night. The scent of James still lingered on my property, bringing to mind, again, this afternoon's conversation.

"You have responsibilities, and those haven't disappeared just because you've gotten a new toy," James had said unpleasantly.

"I've been keeping up my end of things," I muttered, annoyed at feeling I had to justify myself to him.

"It should go without saying that your presence is expected at the event next week," he said coldly.

"Then don't say it, " I hissed back.

James glared at me, his thoughts swirling and dark. "You will need to bring the girl as well," he said.

"Bella? Why? Why would she need to be there?" I asked, trying to mask the concern I felt flaring inside of me. The thought of Bella being anyplace with multiple vampires made me deeply uneasy.

"Because I said so, and because you best remember your fucking place when before you dare to question me," he growled. "Besides," he added coolly, "there will be plenty of other humans there. No need to worry." A sinister little smile spread across his face.

"I wasn't," I lied.

"Of course not," James said sarcastically. He turned to leave, obviously feeling he'd said all he needed to, but suddenly seemed to think better of it. "And Edward…"

I raised an eyebrow in response.

"Remember who saved your sorry ass that day. You would have died with the rest of them if it hadn't been for me. Think about that if you ever dare to condescend to me again." And then he was gone.

He was right, of course. I didn't like James, but that didn't mean I wasn't in his debt. Why would I risk upsetting him for this human I barely knew? But the conversation had made me uneasy, and I found myself wishing I could just keep this one part of my life securely tucked away. That I could keep Bella safe and happy. More than almost anything though, I wished I didn't believe to my core that she'd been doomed from the moment we met. Because that's what I am: Death. That's all I have to offer.

I circled my property twice, trying to shake the day's events from my mind. I was considering going for a long run, maybe even hunting again, when I heard Bella begin to scream.

Oh for fuck's sake. Again?

I briefly considered just trying to ignore her, not wanting to make a habit of comforting her, but she sounded so scared and so helpless. I was strangely powerless against her need. Seemingly without my willing them to do so, my legs carried me to her side. Bella's brow was creased with worry and damp with sweat. Her small body whipped back and forth on the bed and her heart thundered in my ears as she tried to fight off some unseen trouble.

"Shhhh," I whispered, taking her hand. "Bella, it's alright."

She calmed almost instantly, and I was surprised at the feeling of satisfaction that elicited in me. She rolled to her side, pulling my arm with her until I was forced to either sit on the bed or release her. I sighed in resignation, and sat next to her. I couldn't help but notice that her heartbeat calmed in proportion to how much of my arm was touching her, and was fascinated that any creature could find even a modicum of comfort in the arms of a monsters. Curious, I hugged her a little closer and felt her calm still more. I sat there, in that odd position, wondering if I dared experiment with this a little further- strictly in the name of science, of course.

"Fuck it," I sighed, lying down beside her and spooning her small body with my own. As expected, she calmed significantly, all signs of distress now gone. As I lie there I couldn't help but wonder what I was doing. I was a killing machine for God's sake. The world's most perfect predator. I was death and destruction and violence and hunger. And I was… spooning?

"Oh screw this," I muttered, starting to pry myself from Bella's grasp. In response she clung tighter.

"Edward," she sighed. And damned if she didn't sound happy when she said it. And so it was that I, Edward Cullen, badass killing machine, spent the night spooning a small human to keep her nightmares away, wondering all the while what the hell could be so troubling to the girl that snuggled with the undead for comfort.

"Switchblade fangs?" Bella asked over her breakfast the next morning. I had slipped from her room just prior to her waking, oddly disappointed to leave her warmth.

"Trueblood now?" I sighed. "No, no switchblade fangs. No fangs at all really. Just really sharp teeth."

"Damn, I was really hopeful about that last one. So what is true then? Aside from sucking blood I mean…" Bella asked.

"Um…the bloodsucking isn't enough?" I asked skeptically.

"Well it just seems weird that the stories got so much of it wrong. You don't dust in the sunlight, you have no aversion to garlic, you reflect in mirrors, you can't read minds…" she said, ticking off the items as she went. "Hey, wait. I never asked about that last one. You can't read minds, right?"

"Actually…"

Her face reddened in embarrassment as my words washed over her and I couldn't help but wonder what she would be so uncomfortable with me knowing. "No…" she whispered. "please tell me you're just screwing with me. You can't really do that, right?"

I gave a small shrug, enjoying her obvious discomfort.

"Why…how…why didn't you…you can't just go around all mind read-y and not tell anyone!" she yelled, outraged. She moved to smack me lightly as she stood but only succeeded in hurting her hand. "Shit," she hissed cradling the sore appendage.

"Whoa killer," I laughed, "let's get some ice on that before you finish kicking my ass."

"Very funny," she muttered.

"Look, if it's any consolation," I began, getting an ice pack from the freezer, "and I really hate admitting this- you seem to be immune to that particular gift."

"Huh?"

"I can hear the thoughts of everyone around me, everyone I've ever encountered since becoming a vampire, except for you." I said.

"Now I know you're just screwing with me," she sighed.

"Nope. I'm serious. Every one, but you," I said.

"Why…how…why me?" she asked. "What about other vampires? Can that James guy not hear my thoughts either?"

"James can't hear anyone's thoughts. It's not a vampire thing, it's an Edward thing," I explained.

"So why can't you hear me? Do you think something's wrong with me?" she wondered.

"I don't know why not you, but no, I don't think anything is wrong with you. You don't smell sick, if that's what you're worried about," I answered.

"I don't _smell_ sick? I don't want to even begin to explore how weird that statement was," she said, rolling her eyes as she pressed the ice pack to her hand.

"Does that bother you? That you can't hear my thoughts," Bella asked after a moment.

"More than I would have guessed," I said truthfully. "My whole existence has been a flood of other voices for so long I'd never imagine I'd want to get into another head, even for a moment. And the quiet I experience with you is…refreshing."

"…But?" she prompted.

"But, you, Miss Swan, are a curious specimen. And there have been a few times I wouldn't mind taking a peek inside that brain of yours," I said.

"Not literally, I hope," she teased. "Well, anyway I'm glad you can't read my mind. Hey! Can you hypnotize people? In some of the stories vampires can hypnotize people."

"I sure haven't been able to get you to do my bidding very effectively," I said dryly. "If I could I…shit."

"What?" she asked, picking up on my sudden change in tone.

"Vampires," I muttered, listening and trying to detect their scent.

Bella stilled and I heard her heartbeat pick up. Would I ever be able to keep her from danger?

The scent was familiar, and I calmed briefly before irritation flooded in place of trepidation.

"It's okay," I said, obviously annoyed. "It's my…_friend_ (why did that word always taste strange on my tongue?) Emmett. And for an extra bonus treat, he brought his lovely wife, Rose," I added sarcastically, sure she could hear me.

"Shut up, asshole," Rose said, walking in uninvited with the enormous Emmett on her heals, obviously startling Bella.

"We," she said, casting a pointed stare at Bella "need to talk."

**A/N: I've had a few people mention to me that they are confused about Edward and his hot/cold attitude toward Bella. Let me just say that **_**Edward **_**is confused by Edward. He's a guy with a painful history who has survived a long time by keeping to himself. He isn't comfortable letting other people in, and the fact that he finds himself doing just that (both literally and figuratively) with Bella is disturbing to him. That said, there are certain qualities of Bella's that he is undeniably drawn to: while Edward has dealt with his own pain by locking himself away and rejecting humanity, Bella has somehow risen above her own tragedy and retained her ability to find joy in life. And while Edward is adverse to much change, Bella is seemingly able to strive in most any situation, even finding the bright side of being essentially kidnapped. Finally, while Edward sees the world as being populated by criminals and monsters, Bella is able to see such good in people that she is willing to die for Edward just moments after meeting him. While none of this makes sense to Edward, and while he certainly doesn't know much of her story, he is drawn to her because of those qualities, even while resenting both her and himself for that attraction. I know it might not seem to make a lot of sense but honestly, **_**people **_**don't make a lot of sense. Neither do vampires, I suppose.**

**I also want to reaffirm that I do have this story plotted out and am not just making this up as I go, so things will continue to be clarified. I know how frustrating it is to become invested in a story only to realize the teller has no real plan in mind for the characters. Sometimes it works out, but I'm not rolling those dice with this.**

**Finally, yes, Alice is dead. Not un-dead, not kinda dead, dead dead. Her vampy self will not be making an appearance in this story. Sorry. **

**Thanks again to everyone who took a moment to review. It seriously makes me stupidly happy. Please be cool like those people and take a moment to leave one yourself. As much as anything it serves as an endorsement to other people that this story might be worth their time to read, since many people won't bother with stories without many reviews. **


	10. Friends & other enemies

**Disclaimer: Twilight isn't mine. Its characters aren't mine. The millions of dollars that come with them and their merchandising rights sure as hell aren't mine. I do, however, own several pairs of toe socks so… that's something'.**

EPOV

There are many things in life (or un-life) that are best avoided: Combining orange juice and milk. Licking the drinking fountain during flu season. The restrooms of any establishment hosting a burrito eating contest. Cheap vodka followed by indiscriminant text messaging. Dark alleys in a town infested with vampires…you get the idea. But when considering these unpleasant scenarios, know this: they are each preferable to a one-on-one conversation with a pissed off Rosalie Hale- Rose to her, er, _friends_.

So the idea of letting her talk with Bella was unappealing, to say the least. Especially since I sensed she meant "kill" instead of "talk."

"Rose, Emmett, so very nice to see you, please, do come in," I said sarcastically, gesturing to the foyer.

"I'm pretty sure I already told you to shut the hell up," Rose snipped, again focusing her attention on Bella.

Emmett shrugged apologetically. _"Sorry, I maybe kind of let it slip that you had a human holed up in your house," _he thought at me. Fuckin' Emmett. This I why I don't associate with others. You want to do one little thing like abduct a person and keep her locked away from the world for God knows how long and suddenly they're all up in your business.

"Um…hi?" Bella said, finally finding her voice in all of this.

Rose glared at her disapprovingly, as though she was some unpleasant road kill dirtying up the landscape.

"I always thought you were a weird little fuck Edward, but this," Rose said, gesturing to Bella "is a new low."

"Rose," Emmett began, trying to defuse the situation.

"No, no Emmett, please let her talk," I fumed. "Because throughout this whole, fucked up little ordeal I have only been able to wish I could hear the sage and dulcet words of your mate, the bitch queen of the whole damn universe. And now, finally, that dream can be realized."

"Okay, someone want to tell me what's going on here?" Bella asked, obviously confused by the hostility between me and my "friends."

"What's going on here, is that most of us have the good sense not to play with our food. But obviously Dickward here doesn't have the same…"

"Rose!" Emmett interjected while I eyed the room for the nearest blunt object that could be hurled in her direction.

"Let's all just take it back down a notch, okay?" Emmett plead. Bella seemed intent on trying to make herself invisible while this all played out and Rose sent another icy stare in my direction.

"There. Are. Rules." Rose said.

"Rules? What is she talking about? What rules?" Bella asked looking at me.

"Yes, Edward, please," said Rose ,"tell your little Lunchable here about the Volturi, and how she will die a slow and painful death the minute they catch wind of your little arrangement. Oh, and don't forget the thing about how we all go down in flames too for knowing about this shit; That's my favorite part."

"Can you _please _shut her the fuck up?" I growled at Emmett.

"Look man, she's gotta point," Emmett began.

"Edward? Is it true?" Bella asked, looking pained. Great. Perfect. She's probably going to make that "I'm going to cry" face again now. Fucking Rose.

"Look, what was I supposed to do, Rose?" I asked, ignoring Bella's question. "She was attacked by some psycho in a dark alley and when the guy took a shot at me she took the bullet, trying to save my life. Should I have just left her to that man and let him rape and murder her? Or should I have just let her bleed out because of a bullet meant for me? You tell me, Rose, what was the right damn thing to do?"

Rose's sneer faltered, and I smiled internally. Having died because of a similar attack I knew she'd have some scrap of empathy for Bella. Rose never missed an opportunity to kill a man attacking a woman. She was cold about a lot of things, but there's was no denying her soft spot for a damsel in distress.

"You still can't keep her here," Rose said quietly before turning to Bella. "Look, pudding pop, I'm sorry about what happened to you. Believe me, I am. But I'm not willing to die for you and I'm sure as hell not willing to let Emmett get killed for you."

"I-I never… I don't…" Bella stuttered, unsure of how to finish.

"Rose…" I warned. I would not have her in my home upsetting Bella.

"Look, I understand why it might be difficult for you to… deal with this. So why don't you just let me take care of it. I'll make it fast and painless," Rose said, speaking too quickly for Bella to understand her. Fury ballooned inside of me as I jumped protectively in front of Bella. "You stay the hell away from her or I'll rip that blond head of yours right off your body." I threatened. Emmett growled but I didn't care- no one was hurting Bella.

Emmett assumed a protective stance in front of Rose while I began trying to decide the best way to defend Bella against the two of them, but Rose only stood there, analyzing me. Suddenly she held her hands in front of her as a sign of surrender. _"Well I'll be damned. First time that little fucker has given half a shit about anyone and it's some stupid human…" _I heard Rose think before she caught herself and began mentally reciting an article from Popular Mechanics. But her face softened, and a sense of understanding flowed between us.

"Alright Eddy," Rose said, knowing how much I hated that nickname. "Tell us how we can help."

"Okay, seriously. What the hell is happening here?" Bella chimed in, terrified. "Are you killing me, are you not killing me? 'Cause I'm totally not in favor of getting killed…"

"Relax, Snackpack," Rose answered. "Apparently, we're on your side."

"Awesome," Emmett laughed. "I always wanted a pet."

"You do realize I'm not a hamster…" Bella said.

I finally relaxed my stance, meeting Bella's questioning gaze. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"You tell me," she answered. "And what the hell are the… what was that word? Something like vultures…"

"Volturi," I corrected.

"Yeah them. No, wait, let me guess; They want to eat me."

"No, string cheese, they'll want to obliterate you," Rose corrected. "And Eddy boy here just signed us all up for the ride."

**A/N: Reviewers were out in force last chapter! Thanks thanks and thanks. But I'm a greedy lil' thing so I want more. Show some love people, even though this was a short chapter. And thanks again for reading. I'm glad other people seem to be liking this because I'm having fun writing it.**


	11. Rules & other things that can be broken

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or its characters. If I did I could afford that cute shirt I saw the other day. And possibly matching shoes. And a new purse… but I digress. **

BPOV

To say Rose was stunning would be an understatement of epic proportions. It would be like saying combining peanut butter an chocolate was a decent idea, or the invention of indoor plumbing was vaguely helpful or that Ted Nugent sort of enjoys hunting. Blonde and leggy and statuesque, she was so beautiful it took me a moment to focus on the fact she wanted to kill me- or that she kept calling me by the names of various foods.

But I did catch the part where she said we were all going to die and it would be my fault.

"Whoa whoa whoa," I said, holding my hands in front of me as if that would help slow this ride down a little. "Okay, no. No one is getting killed for me. I mean, no one getting killed at all would be preferred, but I'm definitely not cool with several people…er…vampires… dying because I broke some rule or something. What did I do again?"

"Nothing," Edward said sternly. "You didn't do anything wrong, and nobody is going to die. Rose is just being a little overdramatic," he added, throwing a glare in her direction.

"Bullshit. If you want to keep her around the least you can do is give her the facts," Rose said. Yeah, what she said…wait, was I liking her now?

"The truth is one thing, but you just want to scare her," Edward accused.

"Look around you, Eddy boy. We're vampires. She's a walking bag of blood. Sometimes truth _is _scary," Rose said, adding the last part softly.

"I, um…can't believe I'm saying this, but, yeah, I think I agree with Rose," I said. All three of them looked surprised, and an amused smile played at the corners of Rose's lips.

"Smart girl, Cheez-It," Rose said.

I rolled my eyes at the nickname and looked at each of the vampires. "So, who's going to tell me about the Volturi?" I asked.

The three exchanged a look before Edward let out a sigh. "Fine," he said. "But I don't want you to worry about this because there's really no reason they should ever even have to know about you.

"The Volturi are sort of the ruling body of vampires. They live in Italy, are incredibly old, unbelievably powerful, and they make and enforce the rules- well, rule really."

" Okay, so vampires have a rule? What's the rule?" I asked, trying to imagine what would be considered off-limits in a species that thrives on death and violence.

"You ever see that movie 'Fight Club?'" Emmett asked with a laugh. I nodded. "Well it's kind of the same thing here. If the first rule of 'Fight Club' is never talk about fight club, the first rule of vampirism is never let on that there are vampires."

"I'm confused," I began.

"Of course you are, Twinkie, your brain works very slowly…" Rose said patronizingly.

"Noooo," I said, biting my tongue, "I mean, I'm confused as to why all you powerful, human-slaughtering vampires would get your panties in a twist about keeping your existence a secret. I mean, wouldn't it work out better if you just said 'we're here, you're delicious, get used to it,' and you enslaved us all with your awesome vampire powers?"

"Yeah, I've always kind of wondered about that myself…" Emmett said, looking irritated.

"Well, there's probably several reasons, but I've always felt the main one was that there aren't that many vampires, comparatively," Edward said. " And keeping an entire race enslaved takes quite a bit of effort, even for the likes of us. And while we could still probably do it, we enjoy the advances brought about by billions of humans working and spending and thinking and building… you've all created a nice little place for us here, doing all the busy work needed for a civilized society that we'd really rather not be bothered with. It just works out better having you take care of all the mundane tasks, while we quietly enjoy the fruits of your labor ."

I sent a vaguely disgusted look in his direction, and he replied with a shrug.

"So… by my knowing about your existence I put you all in danger of pissing off these enforcer, Volturi vamps?" I summarized.

"Yep," Emmett said cheerfully. "Edward's dead because he let you live even though you know about us, we're dead for letting him get away with it, and you're dead because, well, there's a lot of reasons you're dead, Bella."

"Why do you look so happy about all that?" I asked.

"I just love a good fight. And this is pretty much the most exciting thing to happen in the past 50 years," he said, grinning.

"Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, Emmett," Edward said dryly, "but there's not going to be any fight. Nobody but the four of us know about this situation, and since we all want to live, we'll all keep our mouths shut."

"Five of us," I corrected quietly.

"Five?" Rose asked.

"James knows," I said.

"That fucker? Well, fight's back on for sure now!" Emmett said.

"No, no, no…James and I have our differences. But I'm too valuable to him for him to risk my death at the hands of the Volturi," Edward said, shaking his head. "Plus, he has his own… indiscretions. He wouldn't want to meet with the Volturi any more than we would."

"Let's hope you're right about that, Eddy," Rose said. "You just bet all our lives on it."

We stood there for a moment in awkward silence.

"You know, there really should be a vampire fight club," Emmett said quietly.

"Oh for God's sake, not this again…"Edward muttered.

"You're just against it because you don't want your ass spread all over this room like butter on bread," Emmett said, grinning.

"Whatever Jumbo, I'd destroy you. I'm in your head," Edward said, tapping his forehead.

"Then I'll be sure to think real hard about how I'm kicking your ass as I'm doing it," Emmett laughed.

"There is no way in hell you could take me," Edward countered.

"Don't be a hater Edward. I can't help it that I'm about a billion times over a more frightening vampire than your weak ass is," Emmett said.

"You sure spend a lot of time talking about my ass…" Edward began.

"Oh shut the fuck up," Emmett said "Bella, you're a meat bag. Which one of us is more terrifying to you?"

"Rose," I answered honestly without missing a beat.

"Oh, damn, I might just like her," Rose said smugly. "C'mon Emmett, let's get out of here before you and Edward try to get all Greco-Roman. So long, Eddy. We'll be in touch. Pleasure meeting you, McNugget," she added snidely, nodded in my direction.

"Back at ya, Elvira," I muttered.

"Oh, that's original," she said rolling her eyes. I could swear she was fighting back a grin though.

Emmett nodded his goodbyes, all the while grumbling about how he could absolutely kick Edward's ass, no question, not even a contest.

"Well they were…fun," I said dryly

"…Yeah. Sorry about them," Edward responded, looking vaguely embarrassed. He stared at me for a long moment and looked like her was about to say something, but instead ran his fingers through his bronze hair, turned on his heel and walked away.

I didn't see him the rest of the day but I couldn't shake the conversation with Emmett and Rose from my mind. It wormed its way back into my thoughts again and again, persistent and urging. The thing that most bothered me was the idea of a world without Edward. Strong, powerful, god-like Edward, who seemed the sort of creature that _should _be constant and immortal. And I was weak and mortal and disposable and replaceable… I was designed to be ephemeral. I would die, one day, regardless of how that end came about. So it seemed almost blasphemous that three of these mythical, rare creatures should be at risk of being destroyed just to prolong my existence. I don't have a death wish, far from it. I, more than anyone, perhaps, have a deep appreciation for how fleeting and precious life is. But I'm not so self-involved that I can't see how wrong it was that I be granted what was, at its core, a stay of execution, at the cost of the lives of three otherwise immortals.

Those thoughts drummed deep into my brain, driving from me any appetite that might have brought me downstairs at dinner. Eventually I was sucked down into thoughts of my parents and how everyone ends eventually. None of this was right, or fair. And none of it made sense. And suddenly I was crying. Grreeeat. Really mature, Bella. Way to be a fighter.

I wasn't surprised to see him standing in my doorway when I looked up.

"I noticed you didn't come down for dinner," he said softly, looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

I laughed, though the sound was wet from tears. _Was_ I alright? I mean, define "alright."

"Yeah, stupid question," Edward said, seeming to misunderstand. He was kneeling next to me in an instant, but I was getting used to that now so it didn't startle me. "Look, Bella…" he didn't seem to know where to go with that sentence from there, so I decided to take over.

"Why, Edward? I mean, I know you said you don't know but… why don't you just kill me? You don't know me. You don't owe me anything. I'm no one special. No one will even miss me much…" I began, sniffling through the whole pathetic rant.

"Shhhh, Bella. Don't ever say that," Edward said, stroking my hair in an attempt at comfort. My whole body hummed at the contact. "I have lived a long, long time, Bella Swan. And I have never met anyone quite like you. Believe me when I tell you, you are utterly irreplaceable."

There was no denying the look of affection in his eyes and suddenly I couldn't help myself as I flung my arms around him and held him close to me, sniffling all over his shirt. He tentatively held me, as though he was unsure how to do this or afraid he might break me or both.

"Please don't die, Edward," I murmured into his shirt. "You're pretty much the only friend I have."

He laughed softly. "Vampire, remember? Don't waste any effort worrying about me. I'm kind of a permanent fixture around here."

"Yeah, like a lamp someone buys at a garage sale that's still around 50 years after they die," I said lamely. A strange look shaded his features but he forced a smile. "Yep, that's me. Vampire/telepath/ hideous garage sale lamp."

"There's nothing hideous about you…" I corrected quietly.

"Don't let the veneer fool you, Bella," he said sadly. "Now are you going to come downstairs and eat something or should I leave you up here to your emo moment?"

I laughed as he helped me to stand. "No, I'll come downstairs. I'm fine, I just needed to get it out of my system." And in that moment I was fine, as Edward Cullen held my hand, leading the way to the kitchen.

**A/N: So, they're making progress. It's not love yet, but we're getting there, right? Reviews make the smoochies get here faster because they inspire me to write sooner. Or something like that. Review please! And THANK YOU to each and every one of who has taken the time to review, favorite or subscribe to this story. It definitely is helping to attract new readers, and I appreciate that. **


	12. Men with resources & other ways to die

_**Disclaimer: What has two thumbs and has written 12 chapters of a story using characters she doesn't own? This girl.**_

EPOV

There was no delaying it any longer; Bella Swan had to die.

My conversation with Emmett and Rose had convinced me of that. It wasn't safe for any of us for her to still be alive. I had held out hope that some other option would present itself and there would be a way for me to just let her go and resume living her life. But too much time had passed now and it was up to me to deal with this in the way that was inevitable, really.

I stood starring at her for an awkward moment after Rose and Emmett left, and considered just telling her. It seemed like she had a right to know, and I felt strangely guilty about making a unilateral decision about something so important. But we weren't a couple comprised of equals- weren't even friends really- and it seemed inappropriate for an abductor to consult with his captive about such things.

Bella starred at me expectantly, as if sensing I was on the verge of divulging my plan, but I just ruffled my hair in that odd habit of mine and walked off to my study. I heard her footsteps retreating deeper into the house and decided to get right down to it. I picked up my phone and went about neatly killing Bella.

It's amazing how much money can accomplish. The right amount can fix - or break- just about anything or anyone. And in my dealings I had met more than a few people who were willing to take care of such unsavory tasks- for the right price, of course. I called a few connections, made some transactions, and piece by piece, Bella fell away. And at the end of several hours, she had been declared officially deceased in a way that ensured no one would dare to ask too many questions. While I could never bring myself to literally kill her, it had been sloppy of me to leave her disappearance unresolved. But now, to the rest of the world, Bella Swan was dead.

One of the things that bothered me most (how strange that any of this should bother me at all, God knows I'd done far worse and thought nothing of it) was how few people there were to convince of Bella's death. I'd been most concerned about her family, of course, since families need the most convincing in these situations- decades of mind reading had taught me that. But Bella had no family. Her grandparents were dead, as were her parents. She had no aunts or uncles and was an only child. She had no close friends who would prove troublesome, and no boyfriend. I was surprised at the feeling that last bit of information had elicited in me, but decided it was best to ignore it and focus on the task at hand. Bella was not enrolled in school, having graduated early with a degree in journalism. Most conveniently, she didn't even work outside of the house, instead earning a living doing freelance work over the internet. She had no current projects pending, so there wasn't even a client to notice her absence. It was bizarre, actually, as if this woman had been designed to disappear.

It all made me strangely sad. Did no one else see how special she was? How full of life and resilient and smart and funny and beautiful (wait, did I think she was beautiful now? When did that happen?)? It couldn't be that she was too choosey about her friends- she was more than willing to associate with me and I was a vampire for fuck's sake. How was it possible that no one else saw how amazing this woman was, to the extent that her absence from the world would barely be noticed?

I thought again about the nightmares and how Bella screamed at night. Did it have anything to do with her parents? There was so much about this woman that intrigued me; It was suddenly overwhelming. Hearing Bella still occupied upstairs, I decided to slip outside to try and shake these thoughts. I would have to hunt again soon but felt uneasy leaving Bella alone right now. Instead I lost myself in thought and tried very hard to remember my own parents. There were blurred fragments, like weather-worn photographs; My mother's smile, my father's coat. A pie that had spilled to the ground and the sound of laughter as my sister dropped comically beside it to eat a bit of it from the floor. My sister…

It was dark when I finally went back inside. I glanced at the clock and realized it was well past Bella's usual dinner time and she hadn't come down to eat anything. It was then that I heard the unmistakable sound of crying. I felt pulled to her in that unmistakable way her need magnetized me, and suddenly was at her doorway. She was crumpled on her floor, eyes red and tears leaving damp trails over her soft cheeks before spilling onto the carpet. Her brown hair hung like curtains on the sides of her bowed head, and the depth of sorrow in her chocolate eyes surprised me when she finally noticed me and made eye contact.

"I noticed you didn't come down for dinner," I said. "Are you alright?" Genius question, Edward. Because humans so often cry when everything's just fine. She laughed humorlessly at my ridiculous inquiry and the desperation in the sound made me long for the real thing.

"Yeah, stupid question," I muttered and moved to kneel at her side. "Look, Bella…" I began, but what else could I say? "It will be okay?" It wouldn't be. She was trapped here with me, and would never be able to go back the life she'd been living. I'd seen to that earlier today.

"Why, Edward?" Bella asked, and for a moment I thought she'd been reading my mind. "I mean, I know you said you don't know but… why don't you just kill me?" she asked. Ohh. We were back to that. I'd never met someone more convinced they should have died. Maybe that would help soften the blow when I finally worked up the nerve to tell her that in a way I had killed her, at least on paper.

"You don't know me. You don't owe me anything. I'm no one special. No one will even miss me much…" she continued, sniffling. And there it was. She did consider herself as unremarkable as the rest of the world had seemed to. And I just couldn't stand it. Bella was extraordinary, and it was criminal that she believed otherwise.

"Shhhh, Bella. Don't ever say that," I soothed, unable to keep myself from stroking her hair. "I have lived a long, long time, Bella Swan. And I have never met anyone quite like you. Believe me when I tell you, you are utterly irreplaceable."

And then she was hugging me, and my whole being reacted to her touch. She was electricity and fire and I…I felt unworthy.

URGH! This woman was making such a puss out of me. "Vampire, Edward. Vampire," I mentally reminded myself. I was getting so tired of feeling like the version of myself I'd been for nearly a century was an act and this neutered, warm and fuzzy version of myself was truth. It was as though there were two sides of my personality warring with each other, and the badass side was losing to the guy who'd recite poetry in coffee houses if they sold mugs of type A positive.

"Please don't die, Edward," Bella murmured into my shoulder. "You're pretty much the only friend I have."

I laughed, even though it wasn't funny. Those words had undone some part of me irrevocably, and I knew it. And as delicious as the word "friend" was when formed with her lips, it still felt lacking. "Vampire, remember? Don't waste any effort worrying about me. I'm kind of a permanent fixture around here," I answered.

"Yeah, like a lamp someone buys at a garage sale that's still around 50 years after they die," she joked.

And something about the words fell heavy on me. Bella Swan was mortal. Bella Swan was going to die, someday, and not just on paper. She would grow old and weak as her fragile body began to decay around her, and then, one day, she would die. And that was the best case scenario, assuming nothing but time was able to kill her. And then where would I be? What would my world look like without Bella to brighten the landscape?

I mustered a smile for her sake. "Yep, that's me. Vampire/telepath/ hideous garage sale lamp."

"There's nothing hideous about you…" she said, and it didn't even surprise me that I thrilled at her statement. But I also knew the truth; we're beautiful because it makes us more effective hunters. She was falling for the lie. On the inside I was a monster- a demon who fed on blood and who had done things this woman could never even fathom.

"Don't let the veneer fool you, Bella," I warned. "Now are you going to come downstairs and eat something or should I leave you up here to your emo moment?"

She laughed as I helped her up, and the sound caught fire in the place I guessed my soul should reside. "No, I'll come downstairs. I'm fine, I just needed to get it out of my system," she said, and without thinking I took her hand to lead her downstairs.

"So, can you tell me a little more about this dance thingy we're going to?" Bella asked as she rummaged through the refrigerator. I hopped up so I was sitting on one of the countertops so as not to be hovering uncomfortably around her.

"Well, it's an annual thing for our company- a masquerade ball we do each year around Halloween," I told her, glad for an easier subject.

"So, Halloween; Vampires actually get into that?" Bella asked, grabbing an apple from the crisper.

"Well, no, not usually. We kind of look at it like a cheesy tourist trap or something…stylized, sanitized, latex monsters; It's not really our thing. But James get a kick out of hamming it up. He celebrates it with a sense of irony, and I just humor him."

"So, I'll need like…a costume?" Bella asked.

"A formal attire costume, with a mask. Not some cheesy costume you'd pick up at a novelty store," I explained. Damn, I'd probably need to recruit Rose to help me with that. I hadn't thought this through very well.

"So my naughty French maid costume from last year won't work?" she joked, and I tried to push the mental image from my mind. Too late.

"Hehe, no…'fraid not," I told her. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it for you."

"So, I never asked, what kind of business do you and James have?"

"We deal in stocks," I said. "The whole mind reading thing comes in handy. I can detect consumer trends straight from the minds of the consumers, and can tell if a CEO is lying about how a company is performing long before it's reflected in the books. There's more to it than that, of course, but it's a little complicated I'm afraid."

"Say no more, I was bored at 'stocks'" she said with a smile, taking a bite from her apple.

"Is there anything else you're concerned about?"

"Well, there is one thing," Bella said, after she swallowed the bite of fruit, but didn't say any more.

"You're going to have to tell me. The whole telepathy thing doesn't work on you, remember?" I said with a smile, eager to hear what had her looking so embarrassed.

"It's stupid," she said.

"Even better!" I joked. "Let me hear it so I can start mocking you ruthlessly."

"I can't dance," she said bluntly.

I blinked, trying to make sense of the words.

"Um…was that another Bella Swan I kidnapped who was dancing with me in the kitchen?" I asked.

"I mean, I danced with you, then, but that was kind of an anomaly for me. I'm super clumsy and… I'm just a little worried I'll embarrass you."

I had to stifle a laugh. She was going on a quasi-date with a vampire and she was most concerned about embarrassing me. Great survival instincts, Swan.

"It won't be an issue," I said. "Fortunately for your clumsy ass, I'm smooth enough for both of us," I teased.

"Look, I know you say that but…"

"Bella, relax. We won't have to dance very much at all and I'm sure we can manage without any serious injury in the few instances we will need to get our groove on."

"Get our groove on?" Bella said rolling her eyes. "God you suck at being scary. I'll never respect you as an undead fiend again."

"Like you ever did," I said. I jumped off the counter and grabbed my iPod from the study. I was back in front of Bella a second after she realized I was gone.

"C'mere meat bag, we'll practice," I said inviting her over to me with open arms. I tried not to dwell on how eager I was for this excuse to get her in my arms again.

She looked skeptical as the music started, but moved to me nonetheless.

I wrapped one arm around her waist and held her open hand with my own. The gravelly voice of the singer filled the room as we started to move.

"_I painted your room at midnight_

_So I'd know yesterday was over…"_

Bella was visibly nervous and would have tripped several times if I hadn't been holding her.

"Bella, stop," I said.

She tried to release me as if to walk away. "I warned you I was horrible," she muttered, dejected.

"No, that's not what I mean. I mean stop over-thinking it," I said. "You can do this. We have done this. Just let yourself go. It's just us here."

She shivered a little and nodded, pulling in close to me again.

"Relax," I whispered, staring into her eyes and letting my breath wash over her. She looked briefly stunned but then I felt the tension leave her.

And then we were moving.

"_Just like a crowing chasing a butterfly…"_

We spun and stepped and swung and twirled and damned if she didn't keep up. And she just felt so, so painfully right in my arms. It seemed unfair that the only person to ever feel right there couldn't be more wrong. I had to stop thinking these thoughts. But her head pressed to my shoulder as the tempo increased, and I couldn't deny that something in me had shifted. And it was terrifying because for my kind, those kinds of changes are permanent. And Bella was not.

The song ended and I made myself pull away from the woman in my arms.

"I guess you were right," she breathed. "There was nothing to worry about."

Except there was. And there was no use in denying it to myself any longer.

**A/N: The song used here was "The Crow & the Butterfly" by Shinedown. I don't own it either. I'd really like to hear from you about what songs remind you of Bella & Edward (either in the context of this story or just in general). Or maybe I'm the only one lame enough to be reminded of imaginary friends by songs, in which case, forget I mentioned it. Reviewers, you are awesome. I was actually going to skip posting today but I got some nice feedback and it inspired me. Thanks so much and if you haven't taken time to show some love yet, well, c'mon… all the cool kids are doin' it. **


	13. Lucky Charms & other unfortunate talks

**Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight or the characters in that series. Don't own any songs or pop-culture items/people referenced in this story, Do own a Jumbo sized bag of store-brand Cheerios. **

BPOV

He needed to eat again. I could tell because he was getting cranky and his eyes were always darting around the room, alert and predatory. But he was hesitant to leave me, and I couldn't figure out why. I was, however, smart enough to understand that being trapped in a house with a hungry vampire was not an ideal situation, no matter how attractive the vampire.

"So how does your whole superhero schtick work, exactly?" I asked as I slurped away on my Lucky Charms.

"What? How can you eat that shit? It's just sugar and food coloring; It has no nutritional merit," Edward grumbled.

"You bought it," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but I bought it as a fucking decoration, not as _food_,"he said, aggressively grabbing the box and throwing it in the trash.

"Hey! I like those!" I complained. Wow, hungry Edward was a dick.

"Well you have a history of making decidedly shitty decisions, so just fuckin'…urrgh," he growled, running his hand through his hair for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning, his eyes still scanning the room like a junkie in need of a fix. "Can't you just ever do something that's good for you?"

I fixed my eyes on him before taking my mostly-full bowl and chucking it into the kitchen sink and heading toward the stairs.

"Bella," he sighed, "wait."

"Why Edward? Did you want to tell me how shitty my decision making abilities are again? Maybe yell at me about the grilled cheese sandwich I ate last night?" I fumed, turning to face him.

"No. I just…want to make sure you're okay."

"Then eat one of my former classmates or do whatever the hell it is you need to do, because you seem like I'm one Pop Tart away from irritating you so much you kill me," I yelled, and stomped up the stairs, slamming the door to my room behind me.

What was the deal with men? Living, undead-hell, probably even werewolves if those existed- all a bunch of moody little pains in the ass.

I threw myself on my bed still angry. About five minutes later I heard the front door close. I looked out the window and saw a sleek silver Volvo retreating down the driveway. Bastard actually left! I mean, I wanted him to eat, but still, shouldn't he be up here groveling or something?

"Yeah, Bella, because vampires so often are compelled to beg forgiveness from humans for hurting their feelings," I muttered.

It wasn't just that Edward had left knowing I was mad that upset me. It was that Edward had the option to leave. So much about our relationship (whatever sort of relationship it was) seemed painfully unbalanced; He was immortal. He was strong. He was fast. He was rich. He was graceful. He could read minds. He never had to sleep. He was amazingly good looking. And I was…not. Not any of those things. He had the upper hand in every possible way, and if I really felt like I was a prisoner, maybe I could have made my peace with that. But I'd already put out there that I considered him a friend, and friendship implied a certain equality. It wasn't right that I was being denied it right down to being denied the opportunity to walk away.

I spent the rest of the day stewing in my thoughts. I tried to convince myself to detach from Edward emotionally, even if physically I was stuck here. We didn't have to be friends, I told myself. We were what we were; A vampire and a woman he felt responsible for. And that would have to be enough.

But it wasn't. And by the time night flooded the house I was blinking back angry tears, frustrated with my longing for a connection with someone I should have no attachment to.

It was 11 p.m. when he came to my door. Edward stood radiant against the door frame, his face a mask of contrition. I uncurled myself from around my pillow and meet his eyes with a cool stare.

"Bella, I'm… I'm sorry. I owe you an apology and…"

"Don't worry about it, it's fine. You don't owe me anything," I interrupted, fighting to keep my voice steady and aloof .

"No, no. I do. The way I snapped at you was inexcusable and you were right, I needed to eat but…"

"But what? You were stuck here babysitting me? Look, Edward, I told you. I won't run, okay? And for this little arraignment to work you have to stop feeling so guilty and accept that I'm not your responsibility…"

"Is that what you think this is?" he interrupted. "Guilt?"

"Isn't it?" I asked, puzzled.

He looked hurt, as if the question had insulted him.

"Is that really all you see in me? A guilt-ridden monster who only desires your safety due to some misplaced sense of obligation?"

"Well… No, maybe, I don't know." I answered honestly with a sigh. "Not the monster part. I don't see you that way. But honestly, I don't know _what_ I am to you or _why_ you care."

"Look, Bella," Edward said walking toward me slowly "I'm not good at this kind of thing. I've never had to be. I've never even had a real friend, let alone a… roommate. But I'm pretty sure a good place to start is with honesty, and the truth is I didn't hunt sooner because being away from you makes me feel… uneasy. I'm not used to worrying about anyone. And it's not because I feel obligated to you in some way, although maybe that was it in the beginning, I don't know. It's because I care for you, and the thought of harm finding you distresses me." He looked down at his hand, apparently disappointed by his words. Silence filled the empty spaces of the room as I thought about his words.

"I'm sorry, too," I whispered. "I told you I don't think you're a monster but I treated you like one. And I shouldn't have yelled at you. I guess it must not look like I have a lot of faith in you, but the truth is I just don't see why you're wasting your time with me, even if you have infinite amounts of it. You're… just… amazing and I'm… not."

Edward ghosted a hand over my cheek to push a strand of hair behind my ear.

"You amaze me," he said softly.

"Yeah. With my clumsiness and ability to get into life-threatening situations," I thought. I chuckled humorlessly. "Well, that's something," I said dryly, but offered a small smile. He looked like he wanted to say something more but was struggling with the words, so I decided to spare him and change the subject.

"So, um, how was dinner? Did you find someone tasty?" I asked lightly.

"How can you joke about it?" he asked, unsmiling.

"Well it's not like you're killing orphans and nuns," I said.

He laughed dryly but his eyes seemed pained.

"So, how do you choose?" I asked, picking up on my question from that morning, prior to our argument.

"I read their thoughts and look for the ones who probably won't leave some big moral hole in the world," he answered, avoiding my gaze.

"So how do you decide what thoughts are so bad they're worth being killed over?" I asked, curiosity overpowering courtesy.

"Well that's just it, isn't it," he said darkly. "I've made myself judge, jury and executioner, all in some attempt to mitigate the fact that I kill to live. "

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," I apologized, sorry for upsetting him.

"Why are you always apologizing to me?' he asked sadly. "I already told you, I want to be honest with you, and you deserve answers. It's just the nature of my particular brand of truth that is unpleasant, and I feel bad exposing you to it."

"So, the people you… you know…" I began, unsure of my words "do they become vampires too?"

"No. It's much more complicated than that. It involves infecting a victim with venom and stopping short of completely draining them."

"Doesn't sound so complicated to me…" I said.

"That's because you don't know-and how could you?- how hard it is to stop drinking once we've started. It's almost impossible to override that bloodlust. It takes a great amount of restraint."

"So, have you never done that, then?" I asked, the gears in my mind turning.

"No. Never. I figure I have that to my credit, if nothing else. I have never damned anyone else to this lifestyle or unleashed any other monsters like myself on the world."

"Damned? But you think of James as a savior. How do you not hate him, if he doomed you to an existence you loathe?" I asked, confused.

"I didn't want to die. I was selfish and afraid and James assisted me with that, and I am in his debt for that service. But now, knowing what I know, I would never wish this life on someone. Besides, the decision to change someone is a pretty significant one, since you are essentially inviting them into your life for eternity. Yeah, you can go your separate ways, but you're always sort of connected, and that sort of bond should never be taken lightly."

"So, what if someone was willing to join you in that life? Wanted to, even- would you ever consider…" I trailed off, knowing I'd made it obvious who I was referring to in my question. Not that I necessarily wanted to be a vampire, but it did present an option I'd ever even known existed, one that seemed to solve several problems…

"No. Never," Edward said absolutely. His expression left no room for discussion.

I mustered a fake smile. "Yeah, I gotcha. Nobody needs a Bride of Dracula situation…"

He laughed. "You and your lame movie references. Get some sleep, okay?"

I nodded and turned my attention toward the bed as he left the room. Once I was sure he was gone I let the disappointment and rejection I was feeling spill over my face. "Stupid girl," I thought. "You're lucky to have anything at all from him right now. What in the hell ever made you even hope, for one instant, to belong with him forever?"

**A/N: So for all of you who asked me why she didn't want to be a vampire, she just hadn't really realized it was an option. She doesn't spend as much time reading Twilight fan fiction as us, so it's not an idea that's as prominent in her mind. And as always, Edward is against the idea in a hardcore way. Plus, becoming a vampire is a pretty permanent decision, and they aren't even in love. But she does feel rejected that he would never even consider it as a possibility somewhere far down the road. Kind of like if a guy you hadn't even had a date with yet but who you had an attraction to said "You interest me, but I would never marry you." It's not that you were dying to go get a dress and a veil, but it kind of stings to be told you won't ever get the option.**

**Some of you have reviewed almost every chapter, and even though I use my free time to type out chapters instead of responding to reviews and messages, let me respond here with a big THANK YOU. And as always, thanks to anyone who has taken the time to leave even one review, or to favorite or subscribe to this story. And thanks for the songs that remind you of Twilight. Show some love, leave a review. Pretty please?**


	14. Falling and other things to fear

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters in that series. I don't own any Count Chocula. I do have a BFF who will text me during the season premier of Vampire Diaries, so that's good enough for me.**

EPOV

"Count Chocula?" Bella asked, holding up a box of my peace offering.

I grinned crookedly. "To make up for the Lucky Charms. Plus he'd kick that leprechauns' ass any day of the week."

Bella laughed and my world lightened.

"I see you're still under the misapprehension that vampires are scary," she teased.

"Oh, I'm scary. Super scary. Me and The Count here have got the market on scary wrapped up, in fact."

"Hmm, I don't know," she said, holding the cereal box by my face as if to compare me and the cartoon mascot side by side. "Sorry, still not seein' it with you. The Count here, _he_ is pretty intimidating. But that could just be because of his rep."

"His rep?" I asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"You know… as a cereal killer," she said, before erupting into a fit of giggles.

"Puns, Bella? Really?" I asked, letting a smile escape me. "And besides, there is no way that marshmallow is scarier than a _real_ vampire."

"Hmmm… then I suppose if you see any real vampires you'd better let me know," she teased before turning to walk away with her cereal box.

Oh. That did it.

In a fraction of a second I had scooped Bella up and had run her to the highest peak of my roof. I carefully flipped her upside down and dangled her over the edge by one ankle.

"Holy shit!" she screeched. "Put me down!"

"Why Bella," I remarked playfully, " you sound distressed. Is something…what's the phrase here… _scaring _you?"

"Put me down put me down put me down…" she chanted.

"What's that? Put you down? Ohhhhkaaaaay…" I teased, loosening my grip slightly.

"No! Edward! Please" she squeaked.

"Say it," I said dryly.

"What? Say what? Edward put me down!"

"Say I'm a scary, badass vampire. And sexy. You can throw something about me being sexy in there too."

"Yeah, sure, whatever, just put me down!"

"Saaaaay it."

"Mother humper," she whined. "Yes, Edward, You're a scary, sexy , badass vampire. Now please put me down before I pass out from all the blood rushing to my head."

I laughed. As if I'd ever let anything happen to this woman. I turned her right side up and held her next to me on the roof, looking smug.

"You proud of yourself?" she asked.

"Quite," I answered, grinning.

"You know I only said that because I was under duress. I still don't think you're scary at all, just the whole dangling by my ankles was scary. You're still softer than a marshmallow. "

"Alright, Swan," I said flipping her upside down again. "Let's go over this one more time."

"No no no! You're scary, you're scary! Now put me down!" she begged, breathless. She giggled when I righted her and I smirked in triumph. She pressed her warm little body to me for support and looked out at the view this height afforded us.

"It's so pretty up here," she murmured.

"Beautiful," I agreed, not looking at the view.

"You made me drop my Count Chocula," she said after a moment.

"You have my deepest apologies for any suffering I have caused you," I said. She laughed.

"Well it's just cereal. I'm sure it survived the fall," she said, smiling.

I wasn't talking about the cereal. And I hoped I'd survive the fall.

We sat up there talking and joking for a couple of hours. It was nice being with her without any hint of angst. She didn't ask about my past, I didn't ask about hers. But we did offer up small, happy memories. She talked about shopping with her flighty mother, who more than once wandered out of stores with merchandise she had not yet purchased, having been distracted by something else a few stores down. Apparently Bella had been on a first name basis with the security guards at the closest mall, who eventually came to understand Mrs. Swan wasn't a kleptomaniac but was easily distracted by shiny objects.

I told her about some of the funny things people thought about and the way Emmett had once decided to buy pigs' blood in bulk from a butcher shop to try and enjoy a beer bong like the one he'd seen in some awful movie; It didn't end well.

We both laughed in that infectious way that bubbles up from someplace deep inside and spills out disproportionate to the actual humor of the story. We laughed like we couldn't stop, and if I had thought about it at the time I might have realized it was probably because there have been few people on earth more in need of a good chuckle. It was cathartic and necessary and meaningful. And when the moment had passed I knew we were somehow closer for it.

I sure there was some reason it was wrong to be enjoying my time with her this much, but I couldn't bring myself to care. I couldn't remember the last time I'd felt, well, _happy_.

When lunchtime rolled around I swept Bella back up and carried her in, knowing it was important she eat soon since I'd made her miss breakfast. I went to attend to things that didn't involve her and therefore did not interest me, but were necessary nonetheless. She turned her attention to my book collection and spent the day curled up with an old collection of fairy tales- the bloody ones, not the kind people tell their kids now.

"So… tomorrow's the big work shindig…" Bella said as she cleared her plates from dinner.

I deflated. I didn't even want to think about that. The idea of taking Bella out to a function filled with masked men and real vampires made me very nervous, but I hadn't come up with any better alternatives.

"Yeah. Rose has agreed to come over early to help you get ready. She has costumes for both of us so… if they're wildly inappropriate, blame her," I said.

"Rose is coming over?" Bella asked and blanched.

"Yes. I asked her and Emmett to attend the event with us." Specifically for the reason of having reinforcements on hand to protect Bella, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"Great. I bet she's making a list of snack foods to call me by as we speak," she muttered, annoyed.

"She's not so bad," I offered. And she wasn't. Most of the time. For a bitch queen.

"Well, at least with her going I don't have to worry about attracting any unwanted attention," Bella said.

"Why's that?"

"Because she's freaking gorgeous Edward! I'll be arriving with the vampire equivalent of a supermodel. No one will even notice me. Not that that's a bad thing, given the circumstances, but still, not great for a girl's ego."

Did she really feel that way? I mean, Rose wasn't unattractive but she was no Bella. Still, anything that directed attention away from Bella was a good thing, so I was suddenly thankful Emmett's bitch queen mate didn't have a uni-brow.

"I'm sure you'll manage to attract more than your fair share of unwanted attention," I said. "Especially given that Rose is selecting the costumes."

"She'll probably dress me as a porterhouse steak," Bella groused quietly. I laughed. "Or a bag of skittles," she added, laughing along with me now.

The rest of the evening passed quietly, with Bella reading and me pretending to do anything but stare at her and wonder at my fascination with this frail human. When she retired to bed for the evening I bid her goodnight as though I wouldn't see her again until morning, but I knew differently. I'd fallen into the habit of sitting near her each night, stroking her hair or rubbing small circles on her hand with my thumb whenever nightmares threatened to take her. I fought off her unseen demons, even though I was no angel myself.

Shades of night stole through the room and I found solace in the familiar rhythm of her heart. Black and blue faded to grey and finally golden rays of sun spilled through the window, refracting off my inhuman skin and reminding me that I was not made of the same magic as the woman in the bed. I tried to remember what it felt like to be human, and to imagine what it would be like if I still was. What if I had met Bella under typical circumstances? Would we have been friends? Lovers? Would she have still sang badly in my kitchen and danced with me even though I wouldn't have superhuman strength to withstand her stepping on my toes time and time again.

My mind continued down that path, though I knew it was unwise to allow it to do so.

I saw Bella , touching me without feeling cold, dead skin. Bella, eating dinner with me. Bella, resplendent in a wedding gown and blushing as she walked down an aisle toward me…

"Edward?" a groggy voice asked.

That's one of the many dangers of daydreaming about a life with an imaginary version of the woman you've kidnapped; It distracts you just enough to forget to get out of her room- or at least off of her bed- before the real version wakes up.

**A/N: Ohhh no. A cliffy! Reviews inspire me to write faster. Just sayin'. ;)**

**And now for a little q and a:**

**Twilightcrazed999 asked: "Does Edward kill the bad people (e.g. criminals) or like he said, only the people who won't make a difference in the world and no one would notice them gone?" Good question! And because I heart people who review, here's the answer: Edward is not, at his core, a bad guy. His ability to read minds allows him to try and only kill people who are thinking bad thoughts. However, does he only kill people who deserve to die? Probably not, since how many people out there walking around actually deserve to die? Many otherwise decent people end up thinking dark thoughts at some point or other in life, does that mean they deserve to be vamp chow? Edward tries his best to not kill good people, but there's shades of good and bad in all of us, and by his own standards, Edward himself would be someone fit to be preyed upon, and I don't think **_**he **_**deserves to die. But since the vamps in this story aren't vegetarians, he is doing the best he can for the situation he's in. It does still seem to bother him. I know, long answer for a short question, right?**

**Cullengirl08 asked: "Is Edward ever going to get a clue regarding Bella and her growing feelings for him?" Depends on how many people review. I might just have Bella end up running off with a swamp monster before Denseward catches on. Kidding, kidding. I'd say odds are pretty decent there might be a declaration of feelings that even Edward can't miss in the future for these two crazy kids.**

**Springclaw, isimonb63, la piranha, rosalieandemmett, aliciacullenlove, crazybananas95, tinker03 and CullenIsabella all said nice things about chapter 13, which means they've all read this far so they get a shout out too. And xxIcanseeyouxx always tells me to update, so, I did. Sorry if I missed anyone, I do appreciate all of you. **

**And for the rest of you who are reading but not reviewing: Review, pretty please? **


	15. Why we're here & other tragedies

**Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight. Don't own its characters. Don't have anything else to write here.**

BPOV

He was always in my dreams lately. Why wouldn't he be? He was smart, funny, powerful…the only person with whom I had any contact whatsoever… those little things will influence the subconscious. And honestly, I was okay with that. Dreaming about Edward beat the hell out of dreaming about, well, the rest of the whole mess. In my dreams he was always saving me- appropriate, right? I mean, that's what he was always doing in real life too. When he wasn't dangling me off of rooftops, that is. But the monsters in my dreams were more ambiguous than the ones that threatened me while awake. I'm sure Freud would have had a field day, but I didn't even care to think to deeply about what it all meant. I was just glad dream Edward was keeping them in check.

I was a little curious why he was still here, in my room, on my bed, now that I was awake, however.

"Edward?" I asked, still half asleep. Why did he look embarrassed?

"Bella! I was just checking to see if you were awake. Lots to do today and I was worried you'd oversleep…"

"Why are you on my bed? Wait, were you holding my hand?" This wasn't making any sense, and my brain had trouble processing even predictable information this early in the morning.

"Uhh," he began.

"Honey, I'm home!" a voice I recognized as Emmett's bellowed from the entryway downstairs.

"Hey! Emmett! Emmett and Rose are here! Right now!" Edward said, sounding far too enthusiastic. "Emmett! Rose! Come up here! Immediately!"

"Why are you talking like that?" I asked, but before I finished the sentence the two vampires were in my room.

"Dude, you don't have to yell. We have the same super hearing you do," Emmett quipped.

"Mmm. Breakfast in bed," Rose said, smirking as she looked in my direction.

"Oh, c'mon, it's…whatever the hell time it is at the butt crack of dawn… and already with the food jokes?" I groused.

"Cool it, egg McMuffin," Rose purred. "We're here to help."

"Super," I muttered, and threw the comforter back over my head.

"Oh, don't be like that, B," Emmett said with a laugh, grabbing me from the bed with one massive arm. B? I have a nickname with him now?

"How about we all give Bella a few moments to wake up, shall we?" Edward said gesturing toward the door.

"Fine. We'll be downstairs when you're ready to begin the female bonding, Omlette," Rose said.

"Can't wait," I said dryly.

I went about my morning routine, dragging everything out as long as possible to postpone the agony. Eventually I was out of excuses and knew it was time to face the undead. I had the distinct feeling everyone had been talking about me when I came downstairs, but I was greeted only with two plastered on smiles and one, well, Rose.

"Come with me, Malt-o-Meal. We've got a lot to do if we're going to get you pretty for the ball," Rose said, gesturing with her finger that I should turn around and follow her back upstairs to my room. She and Edward exchanged a pointed look before she turned again and headed up. I shot him a questioning glance, but he just made a shooing motion with his hands.

I followed Rose into the room and she shut the door firmly behind us.

"So what's your deal, Beignet?" Rose asked, dropping what little pretense she'd previously had.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, unsure what she meant.

"You. What's your deal? Why are you okay with being here? No offense, but if you think you'll get money from him…"

"Wait! What? I don't want his money," I interjected. "What are you even talking about? He _abducted_ me…" Now I was offended.

"Yeah. I heard that part. Doesn't hold up for him and it doesn't work for you either, Muffin," Rose said. "Didn't it ever occur to you to try and use a phone or something?"

Okay, no, it hadn't. I hadn't seen any land line phones and hadn't thought to look for a cell. But seriously, who would I call?

"And say what, exactly? 'I've been abducted by a vampire, I don't know where I am, he'll have to kill you if you try and rescue me and if you somehow are able to expose him some freaky vampire mafia will kill him?'" I hissed.

"Yes! That's what any normal person would have done. Any typical human would have fought like hell to get out- no matter how illogical or crazy it seemed- or would have been killed already. While we're at it, no normal person would be in this position to begin with. Who the hell takes a bullet for a complete stranger? And any normal woman would try with every damn thing she had to get away from a vampire, because she'd know in every fiber of her being that we are killers. And she sure as shit wouldn't be worried about Edward's wellbeing where the Volturi are concerned…" Rose said sounding exasperated. "So again, Croissan'wich, what. Is. Your. Deal?"

I pressed my back against the wall and allowed myself to slide down, wrapping my arms around my bent legs.

"I… I don't know," I answered honestly, staring at the floor. I was quiet for a minute, but it was obvious she still expected an explanation. "The truth is, you're right; I should have been trying harder, even if it seems like every time I leave someone is trying to kill me. But…I have nowhere else to go. At home, back before all this, everything kind of fell apart. I think I was looking for a way out long before I was _taken_ out. And Edward…he's complicated. And yeah, he's a killer. But, and I know this is crazy, he's also kind of the closest thing to a friend I have right now."

Rose held my gaze for a moment before snorting once in laughter. "Well, that's just fucked up, Sticky Bun."

I laughed too. I couldn't help it. "Yeah, it really is." I sniffled a little with unshed tears and kept laughing as Rose extended a hand to me. I hesitated momentarily before finally accepting it and she helped me stand. "Come on, let's get you looking gorgeous," she said.

"So, aside from thinking up breakfast items to use as nicknames, what's your deal?" I asked Rose as she began unpacking an arsenal of beauty supplies.

She pursed her lips, probably debating whether or not she would answer me, and finally seemed to decide there was no harm in talking. "You shower, I'll talk," she ordered.

"Deal," I said, gathering some necessities and heading for the upstairs bathroom. Rose waited outside to give me some privacy while I got in the shower, and let herself in once she heard me slide closed the curtain.

"I was stupid once, like you," she told me.

"Ummm…" I began, offended, but she cut me off, continuing with her story.

"I trusted too much, too easily. I had lived a charmed life and assumed bad things only happened to other people. I was beautiful, well-liked, came from a wealthy family. I had it all… I was walking late at night, like you, and like you, should have known better than to be alone in the part of town I was alone in. But, those warnings were for other women. I never even saw him before he grabbed me…" Rose's voice was soft, almost hard to hear over the shower, and I had the distinct impression she was telling the story as much to herself as to me. "I wasn't as lucky as you, though. No one came to stop him from hurting me. And as I lay there, bleeding in the alley, I knew I was going to die. Edward saw me."

"Wait, Edward?" I interrupted.

"Yeah, apparently he has a habit of stumbling upon us damsels in distress, eh?" she said laughing once humorlessly.

"But he said he didn't…" I began.

"Change me? No. Edward would never do that. But he did get Emmett to stay with me while he went after the man who hurt me. Turns out Emmett had taken a liking to me some time before this happened, but never approached me because obviously the situation was impossible. Edward knew of his feelings and got him as soon as he found me dying. And Emmett, he couldn't let me die. And from the moment I woke to this life I knew my heart would always be his. We were lucky that way. Forever is a long time to be connected to someone you can't stand."

"I'm so sorry, Rose," I said.

"Don't be; I don't need your pity," she said "Sometimes the worst things possible lead to the best things imaginable."

"So without Edward…" I began.

"I would have died. Alone. And never would have met Emmett," Rose finished. "And that small debt is the only thing that keeps me from killing that little shit myself some days." Her words were harsh but her sister-like affection toward Edward was obvious.

I finished up my shower and wrapped myself in a towel before stepping out see Rose staring absently at her reflection in the mirror.

"Did he tell you why he was in my room this morning?" I asked suddenly, still unsatisfied with the explanation Edward had given.

Rose gave me a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"When I woke up he was sitting on my bed, and I could swear he was holding my hand or something…"

A shadow of concern crossed Rose's perfect features briefly before she masked them with a smile. "Probably was just going to eat you. No worries."

"Thanks for that," I muttered, making my way back to the bedroom and Rose's daunting stockpile of beauty items.

"I'd like to tell you this isn't going to hurt, Strudel," Rose said grabbing a large round brush and a hairdryer "but with any luck, it really, really will." She grinned mischievously.

The next several hours were spent primping and perfecting. And though I might have questioned her methods, there was no arguing with the results Rose was able to achieve. Despite my concerns, my costume was surprisingly elegant and perfectly tailored. I'd never worn anything so beautiful. A delicate face mask was added for a finishing touch, and when I saw my reflection in the mirror I was stunned.

"Rose, you…how did you? Is that really me?" I stammered.

"Yeah yeah yeah, thank me later. I've got to go get myself ready, but that shouldn't take too long. Let's get you to Edward."

I tried to ignore the way my stomach fluttered when she said that, and I couldn't help but wonder what his costume would be. I followed her out the door and heard Edward talking to Emmett at the bottom of the staircase. I began to make my way down to him and heard the sharp intake of his breath just before his eyes met mine.

**A/N: I know, another cliffy, but I need to switch to EPOV so he can tell us ALL about Bella in her costume. You'll get a better description then. No, she's not dressed as a porterhouse steak. I'll probably be answering some more questions next chapter, so put them in your review (which I know you'll leave, right?right?), and if you've already asked one, it'll be answered there. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter; It makes my day. The next update might take a little longer because the next chapter will probably have a lot going on. Just know I'm not leaving you hanging. **


	16. Revelations & other things to run from

**Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine and neither are the songs in this chapter. The character's aren't either. This is just the way I make them dance. **

**Mood music: "Turn my head" by Live. Not feelin' it? Let me know what you think some good "Edward sees Bella in her costume looking gorgeous" music would be.**

EPOV

Life-and un-life, in my case- is a series of moments. Most are mundane, some are memorable, some etch themselves into your very existence. And then there are the moments that mark a shifting in the course of your private timeline. There will always be a "before" that moment, and an "after" and once that shift has occurred, nothing can reverse it. There are no take-backs, and you are just left to find who you are in this new version of reality. For most people, moments of such consequence are few and far between, rarely anticipated and often unrecognizable for their significance. For vampires, they are almost non-existent. We are stagnant and unchanging by our very nature.

But the minute Bella walked down that staircase I knew nothing would ever be the same.

Any ambiguity about possible attraction to her was cast aside and left to dust. She was stunning. She was perfection personified. She was an angel.

Literally.

She was dressed in softly shimmering white that hugged her body, and accentuated her small waist before spilling to her feet. Her arms were left bare, as though even such fine material knew better than to mask any more of her than was necessary. Her hair was soft, full waves and her skin was perfect blushing porcelain. A pair of wings reminiscent of those of a dove arched from her back and the thinnest sliver of a silver chain crowned her like a halo. A delicate silver mask obscured the area around her eyes, giving her a irresistible mystique.

I heard myself gasp not just at the sight of her but at the shift in my perception of everything I thought I had understood, and fought to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous it was. The gasp was pointless since I don't need to breathe. The staircase entrance and subsequent realization of attraction was cliché. And Rose had (ha ha) arraigned for my costume to be that of a devil; Clad in a tuxedo with a realistic devil-tail hanging from the back and two fake horns glued to my skin, with a black eye mask that reminded me of the ones burglars were shown wearing in old films. The whole scene was absurd- like something from a poorly scripted teen drama. Things never happened this way in real life.

Then again, vampire, so…who am I to judge?

Regardless of the cliché, of how we had met, of how we could never be anything more than what we were because of who we were- regardless of any of that, I knew in my bones that I wanted this woman. And that I would never, ever stop wanting her.

Ain't that a bitch?

I shook my head as if I could clear it of the monumental shift that had just transpired and offered a smile.

"You look…great," I said. Great? Great? Nearly a hundred years I'd had to add to my vocabulary and the best I could give her was "great?"

"You're are rather handsome devil yourself," she teased, reaching me and playfully tapping my costume horns.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I made you both look fantastic, I'm a genius, you can name your firstborn after me," Rose interrupted, passing between Bella and I with a dismissive wave. Rose was dressed in a Victorian costume, wearing a mask similar to the one Bella had on but gold. Bella's mouth gaped at Rose's comment but, still stupefied by Bella's appearance, I couldn't seem to form a coherent thought to use in response.

"Grab your wrap, Truffle, we've got an entrance to make," the blonde she-demon said whisking toward the door.

"We going?" Emmett asked from the living room before appearing dressed in a toga and a green eye mask.

"What the hell is that?" Rose shrieked, looking at his costume.

"Toga," Emmett said, grinning.

"You were supposed to be dressed as a Victorian gentleman! We were going to match! Where's the costume I picked out for you?"

"Listen, babe, the whole powdered wig thing just wasn't workin' for me, and those tight pants were not playing friendly with the boys, if you get my drift," Emmett said, gesturing toward his genitals.

"You are un-frickin'-believable," Rose fumed before marching out the door.

"Rosie! Babe! Togas are classic! 'Animal House!' It was a classic!" Emmett called, following after her and leaving Bella and I alone again as she shrugged a silver wrap around her shoulders.

"Heh… they're…um…sorry about them," I said.

"They're kind of, great, actually," Bella said quietly, starring intensely into my eyes through her mask.

"Bella…you look…" I began gesturing futility as the stunning vision before me.

"Edward! Haul some ass or we'll miss the hustle!" Emmett boomed from outside. I rolled my eyes and cursed under my breath, trying unsuccessfully to banish visions of a toga-clad Emmett leading the room in a choreographed dance routine.

"We'd better go," Bella said softly, but seemed hesitant.

I was torn between going or just calling the whole damn thing off and trying to just keep her here instead, wrapped safely in bubble wrap and never more than ten feet away from me. But the part of me that could still think logically knew the only way to keep her from James was to play his game. I didn't have to like it, but an appearance would satiate whatever need he had to exert some control over me in regards to Bella. And she would be safe. I'd make sure of that.

I extended a crooked arm to Bella and did my best to offer a grin. I couldn't deny the joy I felt when I heard her heart speed up in response, and could only hope it had to do with me and not just the fear of what we were doing. She looped an arm through mine and that electricity that always pulsed between us seemed to hum in a way that was nearly audible.

"You ready for this?" she asked.

"No," I said, but led her out the door since I wasn't really talking about the dance anyhow.

The room was a swirling menagerie of costumed dancers and lights and sounds and thoughts. Music filled the room; Sting's "Moon Over Bourbon Street." I suppressed a groan. James always made thinly veiled vampire references through his musical selections. He thought it was funny.

Bella seemed overwhelmed by the opulence of the event. Champagne and food were abundant and the atmosphere screamed "money." And why shouldn't it? That's the god these people had come to worship.

The crowd wasn't large; we made these things rather exclusive, but there were probably 100 humans in attendance and a large gathering of vampires.

Bella's heart raced and her adrenaline was palpable, attracting the attention of most of the room's undead occupants, although too subtly for her to notice. I instinctually placed myself in front of her in the position best suited for defense while scanning the room for any threatening thoughts. Sensing no immediate danger, I led her tentatively toward the food table.

"Edward," she whispered, likely alarmed at the tension rolling off me. "Are we safe here?"

"I promise you, Bella," I answered, meeting her worried gaze with one of false security, "I will never let anyone harm you." She relaxed a bit a that before her eye's grew wide at the sight of the food table. "Hey! Chocolate fountain!" she said seeing the device on the middle of the table. Leave it to Bella to be distracted by the fact she is in a room full of lethal creatures by oozing chocolate. I couldn't help but smile a little.

She walked over to the fountain and began selecting a plump strawberry to run through in the drizzle as I hovered at her back and scanned the room.

"Oh. My. God," she mewed. "Where has this been all my life? What else can I dip in here?" She began scanning the room for other food items to dip in chocolate. "Are there Twinkies? I think I'd shank somebody if it meant I'd be able to dip a Twinkie chocolate…"

I laughed. "Slow down, Killer. We still have a dinner to get through," I said gently.

"Can I just stick my head in there upside down and open my mouth? Or would that not be classy?" she wondered aloud, ignoring me.

"Any chance you would honor me with a dance before the sugar coma claims you?" I asked, extending my hand toward her.

She looked hesitantly toward the sparse number of couples on the dance floor. "If you're just asking because you're worried I'll embarrass you with the 'head in the chocolate fountain' thing, I can guarantee, this will be worse."

"I could never be embarrassed by you," I said honestly. She still looked torn. All right, time to pull out the big guns; "Please?" I asked, and flashed her THE smile. I'd heard from various thoughts the effect that particular smile had, and was relieved when it didn't fail me in this instance. All hesitation visibly crumbled as Bella took my offered hand with a slightly dazed expression.

"You don't play fair," she whispered as I led her toward the dance floor.

"Who said I was playing?" I asked as I pulled her toward me. As if on cue the music changed to "Whiter Shade of Pale." We began to move and stared at each other, both unsure of what else to say for a minute.

"I wonder why it's so much easier for me to dance with you? You must just have mad skills from all of your years spent dancing with poor, klutzy human girl's like me," she joked nervously, staring at my shoulder.

"I've survived more than 100 years, Bella, and believe me when I say I've never met anyone like you," I said. Did she really not know how special she was? How unique?

"Edward?" she asked as I twirled her gently.

"Bella?"

"Thanks. For that. For everything. You saved my life and you never make me feel like the huge inconvenience I must be…"

"Yes, he really is quite the dashing hero," James said mockingly as he appeared at our side. "Edward, so glad you could make it. And you brought your human…" he said as his eyes raked up and down Bella. I growled low enough that Bella surely couldn't hear it over the music, but James would be unable to miss it. He held his hands up in a show of surrender. "Relax, relax. I was just wondering if I might have a dance with the lady myself." Bella's eyes grew wide in alarm.

"Sorry, James, I was just about to return Bella to the chocolate fountain. I know better than to stand between a woman and molten chocolate…" I said pulling her close to my side.

"Well, then, maybe later," he said with a smirk as we began to walk away. "Oh, and Bella?" he called after us,. "You look simple delicious."

Rose and Emmett appeared at our sides as we crossed the room.

"What the fuck was that about?" Emmett asked.

"Just James being his usual charming self," I muttered.

"I am so tired of his douchbaggery," Emmett said. "I know you feel all…obligated to him…but seriously dude, can't you just cut the cord?"

"You alright, Cheesepuff?" Rose asked Bella. She shook her "yes" head unconvincingly.

"It'll be okay, he's just …" I trailed off mid-sentence as I caught the glimmer of several thoughts on the periphery of my mind. They were definitely vampires, but it took me a second to process the implications of what I was hearing.

"Volturi,"I breathed. I lightly pushed Bella toward Emmett and whispered with violent urgency "Take her back to the house. There's an exit out through the basement they won't know about that will put you near the garden. Go! Now!" Rose and Emmett shared a look and nodded, while Emmett scooped up a confused Bella and began to run.

I heard her surprised gasp as she disappeared with them, and prayed quietly that I'd warned them in time. I could tell from their thoughts that the Volturi had the house surrounded and were quickly closing in. I scanned for Emmett's thoughts and saw through his mind that he, Rose and Bella were slipping quietly out past the garden. A nearby member of the Volturi caught a faint glimpse of them, but was unable to identify them at that distance because of their masks. The vampire briefly considered going after them but figured they were just going to make a meal of Bella, and it was better to focus on the task at hand. I relaxed minutely.

Suddenly the music (Taste of Bloody by Mazzy Star) stopped and the lights went out. One of the women in the crowd gasped dramatically before the room sank into and uneasy silence. Someone giggled-an unnatural, anxious sound born from uncertainty trying to convince itself all is still as it should be- and a few others began to follow suit. But before the atmosphere could become one of reassurance a thunderous sound erupted as a door was kicked in and several windows shattered. The humans huddled together in the middle of the room, eyes darting nervously at the entryways. They never even saw the Volturi come in, but the vampires did. To a human though, it seemed as though these strange figure had simply materialized, when, as if on cue, the lights came back on.

The smallest of the group, Jane, stepped forward. Her face was child-like but something about made her obvious that she was powerful.

"Where is James?" she asked in a voice that was both venom and honey.

The crowd parted as all eyes turned to a clearly nervous James, cowering by a back wall.

"Jane!" he said with fake enthusiasm. "Pleasure to see you here! What brings you to these parts?"

Jane's face darkened before a sickly smile spilled across her face. "There. Are. Rules, James."

I only hoped Bella was far enough away she didn't hear the screaming when it started soon after.

**A/N: Don't you just HATE it when your big romantic night turns into a bloodbath? At least there was a chocolate fountain. **

**Want to see the inspiration for Bella's costume (although I did change the details)? Google Claire Danes in Romeo + Juliet. **

**I LOOOOOOOVE all these sweet, awesome, wonderful reviews. Please don't stop leaving them just because I took my sweet time getting this chapter out. They make me happier than Bella with a chocolate dipped Twinkie.**

**As promised, a little Q and A: **

**PBJilly asked "What does Bella do all day? Yes, reading, but is there a television? A computer?" **

**Yes! Edward may be undead but he's still a guy, and he loves his toys. He has a nice a plasma screen TV, a sah-weeeet computer setup and even a pinball machine. Bella also is a big fan of fan fiction, and spends a lot of time reading this very story, wishing you would leave a review so she could just make out with Edward already.**

**Sujari6 asked "Perhaps Rose will change Bella if Edward doesn't?" Hmmmm. I don't know. This could be the story where Bella just grows old gracefully or dies gruesomely. Or maybe she runs off to start a new life as a mime. **

**XXICanSeeYouXX asked:"If Rose was just like Bella (of how she was in a alley) then why is she being *kinda* mean if she like Bella?" Because Rose is THAT friend. The one who is slightly bitchy but still completely loveable. Does anyone else have that friend? I have like, 2 of that friend. Don't be fooled though, Rose is fond of Bella, despite her best efforts to remain aloof.**

**CullenIsabella asked: "So...they're not going to be vegetarians ever? (Edward, Emmett, Rosalie and Bella-yes, Bella and you know she'll be a vampire better than I do...just saying!)" Okay, I'm actually still considering going with the mime thing now. And while I won't tell you what WILL happen, I will tell you that as of now, none of them have even had any reason to consider that particular lifestyle since Carlisle was kind of the driving force behind that lifestyle, and he is not present.**

**Thanks again for reading and keep those reviews a-comin'! **


	17. Life or death and other decisions

**Disclaimer: Twilight isn't mine. These characters aren't mine. Any songs mentioned aren't mine. No infringement is intended. Blah blah blah.**

**Mood Music: Something I Can Never Have ( Nine Inch Nails) **

EPOV

"There. Are. Rules, James."

Well… shit. This wasn't going to end pretty.

"Whatever are you talking about, Jane?" James asked, feigning ignorance but still visibly nervous. I could see him well from my vantage point in the room, to his right and slightly in front of him. The crowd obscured me slightly from the Volturi, and I felt slightly comforted by that.

"Do you think we are to be mocked?" Jane asked quietly.

"What? No. Of course not!" James answered.

"Did you believe we would be unaware of the amount of fraternization between vampires and humans here?" Jane asked. Somewhere in the room, someone started sobbing quietly.

James nodded "no."

"You've been showing off, James. You've been telling tales out of school and teacher is very, very mad," Jane said in a voice of eerie calm.

"What the fuck did you do James?" I hissed. But I knew. James had always had too much ego to keep himself from flaunting what he was. A sudden awareness of just how many of the people at the party knew exactly what he was flooded me- something I would have no doubt noticed sooner had I not been so concerned with Bella. They all knew. All of them.

"Look look look," James said "I was just having a little fun. I'm sorry if I crossed a line."

"You did," Jane said without hesitation. I wondered how much of this conversation the humans among us were even able to understand. Not much, from what I gathered. It was all happening to fast. "Now how do you propose we clean up this little mess?"

"Do what you wish with the humans, they're expendable," James began.

"Obviously," Jane said raising an eyebrow, unimpressed that James had given her "permission" to do anything. "The question, James, is what do we do about you?"

James sent me a look and thought "just go with this" and I knew he expected me to play along with whatever plan he pulled out of his ass to save himself.

"I think that given my special…talents… letting me off with a warning should be sufficient," James said.

"And what talents would those be, James?" Jane spat. "Stupidity doesn't qualify as one."

"I can read minds," he said bluntly. Oh for God's sake. "Not everything," he clarified quickly, likely trying to explain answers to questions they hadn't had opportunity to ask yet. "But if I concentrate… I'll show you. Think of something in this room." I listened for Jane's immediate reaction and then flicked my gaze in the direction of a small statue in the corner she was thinking of. James noticed and smiled. "Ahh, I see you're admiring that statue," he said, pointing toward the one she had selected.

Jane looked unimpressed.

"You think I'm trying to trick you, or at the very least I have minimal skills," James said. It was a shot in the dark, but he was right, and I nodded minutely.

I saw a faint flicker of interest register in Jane's mind. "Is she thinking Aro might be interested?" James thought, never taking his eyes off Jane. Aro was one of the three leader's of he Volturi, and was the most powerful of the trio. I indicated that she was indeed, thinking of him. Aro had a strict policy against killing anyone who might be of use to him without his expressed consent.

"And now you're thinking this little gift of mine, though questionable, might be of use to Aro, so you might not want to kill me as you had originally planned," James said, confidently.

Jane's memory flickered over a mistake she'd made in the past, killing someone Aro had wished to keep as a member of the Volturi guard. Making sure no one was looking in my direction, I used an abbreviated form of sign language James and I had used in the past to covertly convey the thoughts of clients to communicate this to my associate, never raising my hand and only using finger taps and flicks to spell things out.

"You wouldn't like to have a repeat of that little incident, would you?" James said darkly. Anger flashed across Jane's face briefly, before she smoothed her mask of indifference back across her delicate features.

"Luckily for you, James, I think this situation can be cleaned up. And I do think Aro might want to hear of what meager talent you might possess. Funny that I should have heard of you but never of your…ability… but I am pleased we've had the chance to meet nonetheless. I will be sure to alert Aro about all of this. In the meantime, "Jane said, eyeing the crowd, "I'm hungry."

I could hear Bella's sobs as soon as I was within earshot of the house.

"It'll be okay," Rose comforted her.

I flew into the house, and flashed to the living room, where Bella was curled into a ball on the couch, still dressed in her costume, tears glistening on her skin. Rose was hunched over her, patting her good-naturedly, eyes meeting mine as soon as she sensed my presence with visible relief.

"Bella," I began, trying to think of how I should even begin apologizing for that clusterfuck.

Her head shot up at my voice and she vaulted from the couch, throwing her arms around me and sobbing.

"Shhhh. I know. I know. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry," I soothed, as Rose watched, her expression unreadable and her mind deliberately shielded from me by thoughts of "Good Times" reruns (dy-no-mite!).

"I was so scared," Bella said into my shoulder.

"I know. I was so stupid to ever take you there. I just thought it was the only way… and James. Fucking James. I should have known…You must have thought they'd kill you. No wonder you were so scared…"

"What?" Bella sniffled. "No…Edward. I didn't mean I was scared for myself, you promised I'd be safe and I had Emmett and Rose…Edward, I thought you were dead. And not just 'vamp-dead,' dead- dead."

It took me a moment to make sense of what she was saying. "Wait, you were worried…about me?" I asked, pulling back from her slightly so I could look her in the eye. I sent a questioning look at Rose and she quirked an exasperated eyebrow at me before allowing me a glimpse at her memory of the night; Her and Emmett running while Bella begged them to turn around and go back for me. Bella screaming that I could be hurt or dying. Bella crying.

"Don't look at me," Rose said to me. "I don't get it either. I wasn't going to waste any angst on your ass, Eddy," but there was no concealing the tinge of her own anxiety that penetrated her memories of the evening. Bella had been worried. About me. Me! Rosalie, of all people, had been worried about me. I tried to stifle my smirk out of respect for her hard earned aura of bitchiness. Rose turned her attention to Bella, likely embarrassed that I knew she would be vaguely upset if I was dead. "Alright, Gummy Worm. He's fine, he's home, no vampires were harmed in the making of this film. Well, except James, hopefully," Rose added.

"No, he's okay. They let us all go with a warning, and a reminder about what happens when rules are broken," I said as Emmett breezed into the room. "How'd that douche get out this one?" he asked.

"He told them he could read minds, and was able to make them think he might be telling enough of the truth to save his ass," I said. Emmett frowned. "So, he used you after almost getting us all killed, and you went along with it," he summarized.

"Look, I'm not thrilled about this either, but if they killed him they'd be a lot more likely to keep on killing a few more of us for good measure."

"I'm surprised they didn't. I thought the Volturi were pretty firm about the rules regarding not letting humans know about us," Rose said.

"Above all else, they wish to maintain an illusion of fairness," I explained, recalling what I'd gleaned from their thoughts that evening. "If they make it seem like they are killing at whim, it's that much less likely their rules will be obeyed and increases the probability of a revolt against them. Everyone there, Volturi included, knew it was James that had broken the rules. For anyone else to be killed simply for being in the same location could be seen as an abuse of power. Not that it was out of the realm of possibility…"

"But what about all the people there? The humans?" Bella asked, finally joining the conversation.

An obvious unease filled the room as none of us answered.

"All of them?" Bella asked, horrified as she filled in the blanks. "But there were so many. There's no way so many could just…die… without that being noticed! What about their friends? Their families?" She was shaking her head in disbelief.

"They have ways of covering these things up, Bella," I said gently. "They'll make it look like something else. They always have before."

"Before? This has happened before?" Bella asked.

"James isn't the first one to mess up. And the secret is the most important thing to these people," I explained.

Bella stared blankly, in shock before suddenly lowering herself to the floor, shakily lowering her head to her hands. "Bella? Are you okay?" I asked as I crouched beside her.

"I'm trying to be," she whispered. "God, I'm trying to be. I've tried so, so hard to just, be cool with all of this. And vampires, sure, I can deal with that. Kidnapped? Whatever; I'd kind of vacated my life anyhow. The occasional rapist or murderer being turned into a meal? Fine, great, sure. But this… tonight," she raised her eyes to meet mine, tears streaming freely from her eyes. "Edward, this was a massacre. All those people…"

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry," I said gathering her into a hug. And I hated myself for bringing her into this world filled with horrible creatures. I hated myself for forcing her to stay here and to go there, to that ridiculous party. And most of all I hated myself because I knew I couldn't give her anything to make it better. Like I said before, there are no take-backs in life, and some moments can't be undone. But I knew there was one thing, one _right _thing I could do here, no matter how much every part of me raged against the idea.

"Bella," I said pulling away from our embrace to look at her properly. "You know what they can do now. You know what it was I wanted to protect you from. But… but I can't keep you safe. I mean, I can do my best, God knows I'll give it everything I've got, but I can't force you to stay here anymore in good conscience with the promise that it's safer here than out there, living your life. It's not. And it was wrong of me to take you and make you stay with me. I want you to go someplace where you can be happy and live your life, not stay here locked away with a monster and always just barely getting away from whatever is trying to kill you that day. You should be wherever you want to be. I'll do my best to protect you while keeping my distance. Just, just pretend this never happened. It was just another bad dream."

"Wait," Bella said, confused. "You're letting me go?"

"Uh, yeah, mind clearing that one up for me too bro?" Emmett interjected. "Because in case you didn't notice, the Volturi…"

"…never need to know," I finished for him. " They didn't see her tonight, Em. She was wearing the mask. And I'm sure I'm on their radar now so it's not like she's less likely to be noticed living around here. And I doubt that, knowing what she knows now, she'd be the one to slip up and get their attention. And even James doesn't know what happened with her tonight. I could just tell him they killed her. And you two would, of course, support that, right?"

"Yeah man, of course we would," Emmett said with uncharacteristic solemnity. I looked to Rose, awaiting a bitchy remark but was just met with a firm nod of agreement.

I looked back to Bella but her expression was unreadable.

"It'll be okay, Bella. We'll keep you safe and you can go anywhere you want. You can be where you want to be," I told her softly, hoping she didn't see how much it was hurting me to let her go. I tried not to picture the new life she'd find. Days filled with sunlight and nights free of monsters. Meals shared with people who could actually eat with her. Men who could…touch her… with hands made of living flesh. It was that last one that would destroy me, and I knew that. I would always, always long for her. And she would never be mine.

"I can be anywhere I want?" Bella asked finally.

"Anywhere," I affirmed, swallowing back the pain that was creeping up my throat.

"Good," she said, her eyes resolute. "Then I want to stay here."

**A/N: Oh c'mon; you'd stay too. And look, Bella is finally making some decisions about her life and not just letting everything happen to her! 'Bout time.**

**By the way, while all reviews make me so happy I almost pee a little ('cause that's normal) my most favorite are the ones that specify which phrases or paragraphs they liked best and why, or the ones that say you've been rec'ing this fic to friends. I got a few of both types recently, and smiled like a Twilight virgin first reading the leg hitch scene. **

**I'm not answering every question I've gotten since the last chapter, but here's a few FAQs;**

**Q:How long is this story going to be?**

**A: As long as it needs to be. I know, I know. Not helpful. But the truth is, I mapped out all the events that will happen, not how many chapters it will take to tell the story of those events. I'd say we've crossed the halfway point for sure. This isn't going to be epic and I won't drag it out just to keep getting the thrill of new comments coming in. I'll give you a heads-up when we're approaching the last chapter.**

**Q: Doesn't Edward ever think about making sexy time with Bella? Doesn't Bella want to get her fang-bang on with Edward?**

**A: Okay, my vampires (and my Bella, for that matter) are NOT virginal. They are also not porn stars. And it's complicated; Bella is, obviously attracted to Edward. But she's also still kind of grieving her parents, and aware that she's been essentially abducted, and knows that Edward is a vampire who has done (and continues to do) some pretty shitty things. She barely allows herself to acknowledge her attraction to him, let alone have vivid fantasies about whether or not all of his bits and pieces sparkle. **

**Edward, on the other hand, has had more than a century to deal with lust. It's there, but it isn't some new, raging-teenage reaction for him. And yes, I'm sure he'd love to make naked smooshies with Bella, but this dude is a big wad of guilt and angst. He feels shitty enough about who he is and the things he's done that he wouldn't even let himself fully admit that he was attracted her, because it makes him feel even more predatory. So, like Bella, he's not really allowing himself to even think a whole lot about that. But if it makes you feel better, just imagine that through this upcoming BPOV chapter, the only thing Edward is thinking about is how she'd look naked and eating a waffle (what? He's into kinky stuff! Naughty, waffle sex Edward.) ;) **


	18. Fairytales and other wake up calls

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters or any music mentioned or any Lucky Charms. If I did own any of the first three, I'd use money they generated to buy the fourth in bulk.**

**Mood Music: "Blinding" by Florence + the Machine**

BPOV

When I was a little girl my mother used to tell me a story:

"Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there was a beautiful princess. And she was good and kind and fair, but she was cursed. And one day she pricked her finger on an enchanted spinning wheel and fell into a deep sleep.

"Years passed. People lived and loved and died. The whole world moved on. But the princess stayed asleep; alive, but removed from the rest of the world. It was well known, however, that the princess could be restored to life if the right man- her true love- braved the magic that had claimed her and gave her a kiss. And many tried. Princes, wealthy merchants, knights- all seeking her with valor and virtue. But none could get to the princess. But one day a man came to pull her from her slumber, and though he was no prince or knight or nobleman of any sort, he was brave. And he was persistent. But most importantly, he was her soul mate. And he fought his way through many obstacles and found himself in the chamber of the princess. He walked over to her and placed his lips upon hers in a kiss…"

"Then what happened, Mommy?" I'd ask.

"She woke up, baby. She woke up."

And that was my mother in a nutshell; she believed in fairytales. And she thought there was always some magic cure that someone else had for each of life's problems.

But this isn't a fairytale. And in real life, sometimes the only one that can pull you out of stasis is yourself.

My life, since the death of my parents, had cast me into the role of someone in a walking coma. Prior to the accident, I had spent a long time playing by the rules, walking the line, and getting my ducks in a row; I had graduated from collage and was finally ready for my life to begin. But then a police officer knocked on the door of my family's home at 2:57 a.m. on a Wednesday.

My mother had insisted on going to that party. My father hated those sorts of events, but he loved my mother enough to brave one now and then for her sake. They often stayed late- Mom got chatty when she drank- but this was a little late even for them.

No one ever found the reason they veered into that tree.

I know. A tree. Anti-climatic, right? In the movies it's always a drunk driver or an ice storm- something we can learn to avoid so we can assure ourselves that it won't happen to us, that nothing is random, that there is order to the universe. At the very least, at the very fucking least, we'd find out what made my dad veer into that tree. And you can bet your ass it would be something really fucking interesting.

But life isn't a fairytale, and it sure as shit isn't some well-packaged movie either. Sometimes people die. They die for no reason. For no fucking reason whatsoever. They die on sunny days or getting the dry cleaning or sitting on the toilet. They die at some ungodly hour on a Wednesday after veering into a tree for a reason we will never know. They die without closure or resolution or logic. They die without leaving behind anyone to blame. And they die right when life is ready to begin.

People react to tragedy is all different ways. Some rage or scream or rally. Some mourn or sob or grieve. Some muscle through and find a way to go on. Some check out entirely. And some are like me; They just go to sleep. Not literally, of course. I went through the motions of my life. I participated as much as was necessary. I spoke, I laughed, I engaged in witty banter. Hell, I even eventually danced in a kitchen with a sexy vampire. But life became a series of things that happened to me.

Taking that bullet was the most involvement I'd mustered in months, and in retrospect, it's hard not to wonder if on some level I wasn't just looking for a way out; At least my death would make some sense. Girls in dark alleys meet bad ends. Much more logical than the damn tree thing.

The only real reason my life moved forward is because _life_ moves forward. Life happens, even without being prompted. That would-be murderer happened to me. Edward happened to me. Becoming a prisoner in his house happened to me. That stupid work-function/Halloween party from hell happened to me. I took what came, drifting along on life's currants, never participating or deciding or acting, just accepting it all with lukewarm resignation.

But as I stood in that room listening to the three vampires discuss what would happen to me next, something else, entirely unexpected, happened to me; I woke up.

Maybe it was the shock of almost being killed _again_. Maybe it was thinking I'd lost Edward. Or maybe I'd just been slowly awakening all this time, and the last embers of sleep had been extinguished as I stood there. Or maybe, like my parents' death, it was for no real reason at all.

"It'll be okay, Bella. We'll keep you safe and you can go anywhere you want. You can be where you want to be," I heard Edward say softly. And he reality of freedom breathed sweetly over me; I could go. I could shake this off, start that life I'd been putting on hold. I could go home.

Except…

Except no place had felt like home since the night I'd heard the knocking on the door. Until recently, that is. And not because of this place. This place was large and cold and impersonal. This place was a prison. But Edward… Edward felt like home. And yeah, that's screwed up. I mean, in the grand scheme of things I barely knew him, and much of what I did know should have been enough to send me screaming in the opposite direction. But feelings aren't logical things. And if I was waking up, I wanted to at least be honest with myself in the life I was reclaiming. The truth was, I wanted to be with Edward. If any part of me- the real me- was engaging in life at all recently, it was in those moments I was interacting with him. He brought something real out in me, and I wasn't ready to give it up without a fight. I was done with letting everyone else dictate my destiny. I knew what I wanted, or at least who I wanted to be with. I could think about the implications of that later, I was just thrilled to be participating again.

"I can be anywhere I want?" I asked wanting to be sure I understood.

"Anywhere," Edward confirmed.

"Good. Then I want to stay here."

"I'm sorry… I know this is crazy since I have vampire hearing and all, but yo, did anybody else just hear her say she wanted to stay _here_?" Emmett asked, incredulous.

Edward just stared questioningly.

"Look, Sugarplum, you've had a traumatic night, you might want to give your tiny, frail, human mind a little time to really consider the choice you're making…" Rose began.

"My frail human mind has considered it. And enough with the damn food names already, Rose. You like me, just accept it."

"I most certainly do not!" she huffed, indignant.

"Yeah you do, but for your sake we can keep up the façade. Just at least try out my real name once in a while."

Edward arched an amused eyebrow, enjoying the show.

"Listen, Fruity Pebbles, I don't have to stand here and listen to your rapidly-decaying self spew inaccuracies at me! Emmett and I have done what we came to do, and we will take out leave now."

"Uh, you sure babe?" Emmett asked. ""Cause honestly, this shit's just getting good."

Rose pointed at the front door in response.

"Hey, Rose!" I called after her.

'What now, Corn Muffin? Are you going to imply I think we should start a book club together and paint each other's toe nails?" Rose asked spinning on her heel indignantly.

"I like you too."

"Oh for the love of…Out! Now!" she ordered Emmett before the two of them disappeared into the night.

Edward, for his part, seemed torn between bursting into a fit of giggles (of unimaginable horror, I'm sure) or phoning the closest psychiatrist.

"I'm fine," I assured him before he could ask.

"I know you think that Bella, but… you seem a little different. What happened to that other Bella, the one who's been living with me all this time? Little Miss Go-with-the-flow?"

I thought it over for a moment. Letting things happen to me, not because of me, was easier. I wouldn't have to hold myself accountable, I wouldn't have to make any difficult decisions, I could just blame whatever misfortune found me next (because, let's be honest, I'm kind of a magnet for this crap) on an unjust universe. I could avoid dealing with the grief I'd repressed so long. Not just the grief left in the wake of my parent's death, but grief for a life that I had planned and worked for but would never have.

But that was just surviving, not living. And the simple truth was _I _hadn't died that Wednesday. And to spend the rest of my life trapped in the role of victim or some perpetual Sleeping Beauty was pretty unappealing. Making my own decisions would be painful. And messy. And I'd make mistakes and bad choices and have regrets. But at least they would be _my_ choices. _My_ mistakes. And hell, so far _not _acting had resulted in my almost being raped and murdered, being abducted by a vampire and being held prisoner in a house dangerously low on Lucky Charms.

What did happen to that other me, the one who had let bad things happen but kept them tucked neatly away in the recesses of her mind while plastering on a smile and summoning a comeback? What happened to that other Bella?

"She woke up," I said, answering both his question and my internal dialogue. "She woke up."

**A/N:I know, not a lot of external progress, but Bella had to shake herself out of it. Think of this Bella as being about the same as post-left by Edward in New Moon Bella, when she was going through the motions and everything for her dad, not a complete doormat, but still just kind of putting in minimal effort. It's time to start making her own decisions about stuff, or essentially all this story is about it a guy who kidnapped a woman and a woman who stayed because she didn't care enough to do anything else. Love stuff is coming, hang in there. Also, several of people have mentioned I write short chapters. And you're right. The reason is I have to work with not only the natural breaks in the story, but also the very brief bursts of time I have to write anything. If you want longer chapters I can probably do that, but the time between updates will be a lot longer. More than 200 reviews now! :::happy dance::: Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave one, to favorite this, to subscribe or to rec it to a friend.**


	19. Together & other things we should be

**Disclaimer: If it's cool I don't own it.**

**Mood music: Heads Up, Hearts Down by I Fight Dragons**

EPOV

She wanted to stay. Not because she was forced to, not because I had threatened her, but because she wanted to be here, with me. I fought the urge to grin stupidly and reminded myself vampires weren't supposed to act like giggly schoolgirls.

"So you're sure then?" I asked Bella for what felt like the 1,000th time.

"Urgh. Yes. I'm super sure with a cherry on top. Can I just go to bed now?" Bella asked.

Sleep was such an inconvenient pain in my ass. I'd existed largely unchanged for about a century, and when something of merit actually happened in my life the only other person involved was too tired to probe the issue. And would probably mock me endlessly for using the word "probe."

"Okay, fine. Wuss out, mortal. Off to bed with you," I teased.

"What, are you pissed because I didn't invite you to come up with me and hold my hand?" she asked smoothly.

Shit.

"What, did you think I'd forget about that whole situation? Nuh-uh, Cullen. It would take a whole lot more than almost getting slaughtered by vampires yet again to make me forget the way you tried to put the mack on me when I was unconscious. Way to be a creeper," she said as a smile played on the edge of her lips.

"Get over yourself. I was just trying to wake you up before your snoring alarmed the neighbors," I shot back, having recovered smoothly.

"Alarm the to the fact you have a thing for sleeping mortals? "

"Wasn't there something you were going to do? Was it shut the hell up? No… no… couldn't be that. That sounds downright uncharacteristic for you. Oh wait, no, it was bed. You were going to slink your weak ass off to bed, but only after berating me ruthlessly in my own house," I said dryly. "Try not to inhale the drapes with your grizzly snores, Fleshy."

" Whatever, Icebox. We both know the truth. You likey the live girls, especially the unconscious ones," she said and smacked her ass teasingly before trotting up the stairs laughing.

I should have had some great witty retort but honestly the ass smack kind of threw me. Damn it, I hated it when she won.

I paced the house for hours, thinking over the day's events and trying to keep myself from going to Bella's room like the creeper she had jokingly accused me of being. The clock ticked. Her breathing slowed. No nightmares came; Maybe her little empowerment pow-wow earlier had helped exercise some demons. That should have made me happy, but I was oddly irritated about being without my excuse for my daily indulgence of watching her sleep and offering comfort. It had made me feel useful to her, like maybe I was capable of bringing her relief from horror, instead of just orchestrating some living nightmare for the poor woman.

And man, did I want to touch her. Her little playful ass swat was replaying again and again in my head, and I kept trying to think of excuses to be by her side again. Finally, I decided to accept the fact that I craved her presence and made my way upstairs to linger outside her door. Nope, nothing weird about that. She wasn't having a nightmare, but she was dreaming… that much I could tell.

"…I would like some purple, please."

"Of course you would, Bella. I'll be sure to order a truckload of purple," I thought rolling my eyes and smiling. Humans were so weird.

"…Lucky Charms."

"Oh let it GO," I wanted to yell into her room. Seriously, the woman was obsessed with sugar cereals.

"…Edward" she murmured affectionately.

The stupid grin I'd suppressed all day broke through my defenses and erupted across my face.

"Oh get a fucking grip," I chided myself. "Undead monster, ageless and indestructible, and a 21 year old human is making me grin like an asshole. Fuck it. I need to go kill someone."

I headed out to Port Angeles and found a man who had been poisoning local dogs and was feeling rather smug about it. He was delicious.

I got back to the house right before Bella woke up and made sure to be in my office and acting disinterested when I heard her feet hit the floor of her room. I listened as she shuffled to the bathroom and eventually padded down the stairs, hesitating in front of each room. I smiled at the realization she was looking for me before catching myself and remembering I should probably be brooding; Chicks dig brooding.

"Hey, there you are," Bella said after she arrived at the door of my office.

"Yeah. Did you need something?" I asked. "Good, that sounded aloof," I congratulated myself mentally.

"Yeah, um, about last night…" she began.

"Shit, she's going to change her mind," I thought. "Yeah, what about it?" I asked, still pretending to be engrossed in some paperwork.

She fidgeted, and I interpreted that as a precursor to her telling me she had reconsidered and was going to move to the Netherlands.

"I was wondering if you meant what you said," she said "About me being free to go?"

I swallowed unnecessarily and tried to repress the myriad of dark thoughts that bubbled to my mind in the response to any possible separation from Bella. "Yes," I said sounding far away as I turned to face her.

"I was wondering if it would be okay if I did that today. Go out, I mean," she said.

"Huh?" I asked, blinking. Suave.

"Well, I meant what I said about wanting to stay here with you. But I can't _just _stay here with you. I haven't left the property-except to go to that horror show last night-since we met and … I could just really use a trip to Target."

"A…trip…to…Target?" I asked and wondered why I was suddenly having so much with basic comprehension.

"Yeah. I mean, you've been great about getting me necessities, but it would be nice to just get some crap for myself."

Oh. She just wanted to get the hell out the house for something other than a potentially fatal vampire masquerade ball. And in theory I should be fine with that. But in reality, the idea of her being out without me protecting her made me deeply uneasy. Finally my brain resumed working and eked out an idea.

"Any chance you can wait until tonight? " I asked.

"Um, why?"

I glanced at the unusually bright November morning. "Well, if you don't mind, I might like to go along with you. But it's sunny, and my friends from last night frown on us going all 'disco ball' in public," I said hoping she didn't shoot me down outright.

"No offense Edward, but you don't really strike me a Target shopper. Why would you want to subject yourself to following me as I browse body sprays."

"Okay, first, please don't start wearing a body spray. I like the way you smell now. Also, while I'm sure Target is a great place to buy inexpensive human things, I'm not going to pretend it's my interest in picking up the latest Jenny McCarthy book that has motivated me to go with you."

"Then why?" she asked. "I don't need a baby sitter."

"No, you don't," I said and moved to position myself in front of her. I allowed myself to put a hand on each of her arms in a demonstration of what I hoped would be interpreted as friendly affection. "But you are susceptible to all the dangers any human faces, plus a few bonus ones because of the company you keep. And I really can't stomach the idea of anything harming you."

She quirked a questioning eyebrow at my sudden openness.

"Be logical Bella; What would I do with all the disgusting food you've stocked my house with if you were eaten? I'm just thinking practically here," I teased, running my hands up and down her arms.

"Well, I would feel awfully bad if my death resulted in all the dairy products in the place going to waste…" she joked.

I smiled. "So I can go?"

"You can go," she relented.

Another idea graced me with its presence then.

"Since we're going out anyhow, how about we make a night of it? We could do dinner-well, _you_ could do dinner, I could pretend to eat. Maybe we could check out a movie," I said, hoping I didn't sound as ridiculous as I felt.

" Careful Edward; Dinner and a movie? I might think you're asking me out on a date. A non-work related, no one trying to kill me, no one forcing you to take me type date."

My first instinct was to deny it and tease her about how she _wished_ I was asking her out on a date. Or to run. I could always run. Far. But for whatever reason, I was tired of acting like my whole universe wasn't built around this woman. And yes, it was illogical. And yeah, no good could come from it. And yep, it was messy and wrong and couldn't possibly end well. But when you got past the fact that I was a monster and she was a death-magnet, we were really just a man and a woman and I was hopelessly, painfully infatuated. And damn it, I wanted to take the woman I lo…liked a whole lot…on a date. "So fuck it," I thought, and went for it.

"Maybe I am," I said sounding more vulnerable than I'd heard myself since I was changed. "What would you say?"

Her eyes grew wide before she quickly recovered and composed herself.

"I'd say you'd have to ask a little nicer than that," she whispered and smiled.

Emboldened by her smile I knelt before her and she giggled.

"Bella Swan," I began dramatically, "would you do me the great honor of accompanying me on a date this evening?"

She swallowed thickly, seeming to have lost her voice.

"Yeah. I suppose I could pencil you in," she said finally, smiling.

I grinned in that ridiculous way she inspired, feeling deeply happy.

"Good. Now just do me a favor and try to be on your best behavior. I am a gentleman and I will not stand for you getting all handsy with me," I joked.

"You wish, Dracula," she said turning to leave. "I'm going to grab a Pop Tart. Hopefully it will enhance that delightful scent of mine you just can't get enough of," she said before maturely sticking out her tongue at me like a petulant toddler and walking off toward the kitchen.

"Yeah, nothing more appetizing than the scent of high fructose corn syrup wafting through the house!" I called after her. I leaned against the wall and smiled. I had a date with Bella. For once, I was glad to still be a part of the world and promised myself that no matter what, tonight, I was going to kiss that woman.

**A/N: Reviewers; You rock my socks! Some of you are so funny, and the food names people are giving me for Rose to call Bella are great, Don't be surprised if I steal some. I'm sorry I don't reply more, I have minimal time to type things and I try to focus on getting out a chapter when I have a free minute. Just know it means so, so much to me, and I would have completely abandoned this story without all the sweet feedback, To everyone who has favorited, subscribed or rec'd this fic- love ya. Bonus points to those of you who have reviewed every chapter! **

**Sorry this one took longer than usual to get out. I had the plague and it delayed everything.**

**As a side note, my birthday is in a few weeks. You know what I want? That's right, reviews! Bring on the love people. :)**


	20. Confess & other things you need to do

**Disclaimer: For the 20th**** time; I don't own Twilight. **

**This chapter is longer than the others, so settle in kids.**

**Mood music: "Charge" by Splendid**

EPOV

I spent the rest of the day making preparations. I made reservations at the nicest restaurant in the area. I checked, cross-checked and triple checked the show times of every movie playing that evening at the theater in Port Angeles. And just when I was considering ordering a limo I detected Emmett and Rose on the property.

Fuck.

"Are you two just going to be here on a regular basis now, because I might start charging rent," I asked without even turning to face them as they entered the house.

"As long as you keep Bella around, yeah. Chick's more fun than a Zhu-Zhu pet," Emmett said grinning.

Rose crossed her arms looking annoyed. "I don't exactly love your company either, but Em seemed to think we should check up on you kids after last night's throw down."

"Check up on us why, exactly?"

"Wanted to know if you were hittin' that," Emmett thought while simultaneously saying "Just wanted to be sure Bella was holding up alright."

I shot him an annoyed look and he grinned.

"Where is the pot pie?" Rose asked referring to Bella. She appeared to hear Bella upstairs and headed off in that direction, likely to harass her.

"Rose likes her," Emmett said.

"And?" I asked

"…and have you met my wife? She hates _everyone_. I'm not even a hundred percent sure she likes me."

"I don't like you," I offered.

"You love me; That's beside the point."

"Then what is the point?" I asked.

"Your girl is special. She's worth holding onto."

"And, as you may have noticed, I have invited and encouraged her to stay indefinitely…" I said, motioning with my hand that Emmett should get to whatever point he was building up to. His thoughts were being shielded by his mentally humming the theme to "ALF."

"I was just wondering if you'd given any thought to…"

But he didn't get a chance to finish that sentence because his concentration slipped and I saw the thought he'd been trying to conceal.

"You want her to be one of us," I said disgusted.

"Look. It's not that I want it, it's just…what options do you really have here man? You like her, we like her, she's vulnerable as hell. What's our end-game here?"

"Not going to happen," I said shaking my head and moving away from him.

"Awwww dammit Edward! C'mon man, I know you have some fuckin' hang up about that shit but seriously. Enough with that bullshit."

"No. No. No!" I yelled holding my hand up in a signal for him to stop as I retreated.

"Look," he said appearing in front of me, "You don't have to be the one to do it even. I'll take care of it…or Rose even…"

"Are you listening to me? NO!"

"Why? Are we really so bad? Do you hate us, and yourself, that much, man?" Emmett asked softly as he tried to calm me.

"YES! We KILL people Emmett. We're fucking murderers! And we can justify that shit all day but I'll be damned if I make her live this life."

"…What if she wants this life Edward? Did you ever think about that?"

Truth be told, I hadn't, but I didn't intend to start thinking about it at that moment.

"She's better than that Emmett. She's better than this."

"Just…just let her be the one to make that choice if it comes down to it, okay? I know you have some guilt about your sister but that shouldn't keep Bella from…"

I shot him a look that clearly indicated he had crossed a line by mentioning Alice. He knew better than that shit.

"Sorry. Sorry," he said holding his hands up in surrender. "Just…just think about it, okay?"

I rolled my eyes in response.

"So…what have you two crazy kids got on tap for tonight? Flaunting your blatant disrespect for the Volturi? Storming the castle? Twister?"

"Actually," I said feigning the confidence that was evading me "we have a date."

He snorted. "Yeah. This is gonna end well."

"Be cool. Be. Cool." I told myself as I waited for Bella to come downstairs so we could leave for our evening out together. Finally I heard her close her bedroom door behind her and head for the staircase.

"Hey! She called from above me. "You ready?"

"Yeah," I said turning to look at her. Short grey skirt. High black boots. Black tights. Soft, form fitting black sweater. Hair soft and flowing. Lips glossed and pulled back into an almost-shy smile.

Damn.

I swallowed thickly and bid a fond farewell to any chance I had at keeping an attitude of nonchalance throughout the evening.

"You…you look. Wow," I said appreciatively.

"You're lucky you're pretty, because there's no way in hell you'd lure away any damsels with your keen grasp of the language," she teased before swatting my shoulder playfully as she reached the bottom stair.

"Well I must be doing something right, I've got you all a twitter," I said grabbing her jacket from the closet and holding it out for her to slip into.

"Not a whole lot of dating options here at Castle Dracula. I'm just making the best of things," she said.

"Is that why your heart is going like a humming bird?" I asked.

"Damn your wily vampire senses."

I smirked and held open the door for her before leading her to my silver Volvo and holding the passenger side door open for her. I then flashed to my own seat, not bothering with appearing to do things at a human speed.

"So where are we going?" she asked as she fastened her seatbelt. I allowed myself to let the smell of her skin and hair wash over me while she was distracted with the buckle. It was soap and flowers and something unidentifiable and sweet.

"Fanciest restaurant in town. I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of ordering my lady a number three, super-sized," I said with a smile.

"Oh baby, I do love the way you pitch your woo," she jokingly responded with a fake southern drawl.

I put the car into gear and steered us toward Port Angeles.

Dinner went well. Our 30-something waitress flirted with me shamelessly, and I didn't need to be able to read Bella's thoughts to sense her annoyance.

"Awww. Are you jealous?" I asked teasingly.

"Hardly. I'm just concerned that her serving us might delay her in getting back to her street corner," Bella growled.

I laughed. "Wow. Ouch. No need to go all girl-fight on her. She's not my type."

"Why? Is she AB negative?"

"Blood type jokes. Hilarious. How are you still single?" I asked dryly.

"Just waiting for the right undead beastie to sweep me off my feet in a dingy alley I guess," she said and giggled.

"Eat your disgusting human vittles; We've got a movie to catch."

The movie we agreed on was some 3-D deal with blood and guts. I kind of thought she'd want to see the latest romantic comedy, but apparently our actual lives weren't fraught with enough terror, so she wanted to vicariously experience more. We joked throughout the movie about whether or not I was more terrifying than the on-screen menace and she munched on some vile popcorn coated in butter-flavored chemicals. I loved the way her pulse sped up in response to tense moments on the screen, and the way she cowered a little closer to me when the killer attacked, as if on some subconscious level she knew I would protect her from whatever monsters might come for her. And I would. Always.

When the movie was over we laughed about the characters as we walked to the car. I thought about holding her hand but she had hers both tucked into her pockets for warmth, and it's not as though I could offer her any body heat.

"Hey Edward," she said as we pulled into the Target parking lot.

"Hmm?"

"I'm having a really great time," she said and smiled.

"Me too," I said and grinned as I swung the car into an unoccupied space.

The pavement shone in the light rain of the chilly evening as we walked toward the store's fluorescent glowing entrance. I tagged behind Bella as she perused the aisles grabbing miscellaneous items that I observed with great interest. I paused at the clearance section filled with leftover Halloween costumes and briefly considered grabbing a set of fake fangs but thought better of it.

As we stood in the checkout line I listened to Bella ponder the implications of the latest tabloid stories and I distractedly read the ingredients on a pack of chewing gum and wondered how humans could stand that crap as the clerk finished ringing up her items. The thoughts of the couple in line behind us caught my attention. They hadn't been dating long and were anticipating consummating their relationship that evening. They made idle chit chat and I wondered how similar they were to Bella and me when you got past the whole vampire thing.

"Declined. Ugh."

The clerk's thought broke through my consciousness a moment before she looked to Bella to tell her that the debit card she had just swiped to pay for her stuff had been declined. I tried to think of some way to stop the clerk from saying something but it was too late.

"I'm sorry Miss, there appears to be a problem. Would you like to try another form of payment?"

"What? No. I'm sorry, that's impossible. I haven't used this card for anything lately and I know I had some money in my account when I…"

"Don't worry Bella, I'll get it. I had intended to anyway but I got distracted," I said "by fucking gum ingredients and the guy with the hard-on behind us," I finished mentally. Shit. This was bad.

"But that's silly. I have money, I swear. There must just be some mix-up. I'll call the hotline…"

"Here, just use mine," I said swiping my card.

"Look, Edward, that's sweet but I'm going to have to get this straightened out eventually anyhow," Bella said as the clerk finished up her order. "Just give me a couple of minutes and I'll call someone."

"You can't do that," I said quietly as I grabbed her bags and led her out of the store by the elbow.

"What? Why? You're acting weird, Edward. Look I know you like to pay for things and everything but you don't need to save me from the big bad money monster. Just give me a sec to call them…"

"You can't do that," I repeated.

"Why?" she demanded, stopping in her tracks about 20 feet from the car.

"Because they think you're dead, Bella," I said, letting the truth rush out like a dam had burst.

"They… think…I'm…what? Why would they think that? Edward! Why would they think that?"

I opened the car door and ushered her inside before taking my place behind the steering wheel.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked, her eyes searching mine.

"I had no other choice…" I began.

"What?"

"I made it look like you'd been killed, Bella. Your creditors, your work contacts, your friends…they had to think you had died. It was the only way to explain your disappearance that night…"

"You… What?" she asked, her toned laced with hurt and betrayal as my words sunk in.

"You have to believe me; It was the only way," I said pleadingly. " If you just remained missing indefinitely people would have asked questions and that's the sort of thing that gets back to the Volturi eventually. You saw how they are, Bella. I couldn't let them…I'm so sorry."

"Take me back to the house, Edward," Bella said flatly looking straight out the windshield.

"Bella, please," I begged grabbing her hand, willing her to understand.

"Take. Me. Back," she whispered fiercely, blinking back tears.

I nodded once and started the car. The ride back was a silent one but I could smell the salt from her tears the whole way home. I thought about how it had never really been a home to me before Bella-just a house-but she had given me that. And all I had done was take. And take. And take. And now she would leave.

She was quiet when she exited the car, still refusing to meet my gaze. She headed straight for the stairs after she entered the house but I grabbed her hand, stopping her before she was more than halfway up them.

"Please talk to me. Yell at me. Hit me if it will make you feel better. You have every right to hate me but please, please Bella, please know I did this because I wanted to keep you safe."

"I don't hate you, Edward," she whispered.

"But…" I began.

"It's not you. I mean, yeah, it sucks that you did that but…you know more about these things and if you say it was the only way to keep us safe, I trust that."

"Then… what?" I asked, confused.

She looked up at me, her deep brown eyes bright with tears.

"It's just… it was so easy. To erase me. No one even questioned it? No one even said 'Hey, that's kind of random, let's look into that a little more?' It's like I didn't even warrant that much effort. No one even cared enough to make it hard for you. It's just obvious now how little I ever mattered."

I blinked at her, unable to believe the words she was saying.

"Oh, God. Bella. You matter," I said.

"Yeah, obviously," she said laughing humorlessly as she wiped her eyes.

And suddenly I couldn't stand it any more.

"Bella, I've existed for far too long on this earth. And in that time I've been privy to not only the words but the thoughts of countless people. And in all that time I've never met one, not _one,_ that mattered a fraction of as much as you do. You're utterly incredible. You're so smart, and so funny… and beautiful, but in a way that you're completely unaware of, so it hasn't ruined you. You bring out the best in everyone, you even won over Rose, _Rose_!…Bella, there's so, so much to love about you. And I've spent my whole miserable existence shielding myself from feeling anything for anyone, but you…for fuck's sake Bella; I'm crazy in love with you. Can't you see that? Don't you know that? How can you ever, _ever_ think you don't matter? You're the only one that does."

I stopped myself, there, the weight of my words hanging in the room with us. Bella had stood stone-still throughout my little speech and I suddenly wished more than ever I could hear what was going on in that mind of hers. I half expected her to run again. Or hit me. Or laugh.

But she didn't.

"Edward," she said softly.

"Yeah," I said, feeling oddly exhausted.

"I'm going to need you to kiss me now."

And I did.

**A/N: Smoochies. There ya go.**

**Thanks for all of the incredible reviews last chapter. Lurkers; I'm callin' you out again. If you're liking please this take a minute to leave a review saying so in the hopes that more reviews will lead to more people giving this story a chance, which in turn makes me feel better about the work I'm putting into it.**

**Special thanks to those of you who have faithfully reviewed several (or ALL-wow!) chapters, or have left a review for this story even thought you've never reviewed before (glad I'm your first darlin') or who have rec'd this to others. Also, I just recently learned there are people in other countries reading this and-because I'm a dork- I think that's pretty much the coolest thing ever, so if nothing else just write what country you're reading this in as a review if you're not from the states, just so I can know how far this thing is traveling.**

**I have a busy couple of weeks coming up so it might be slightly longer than usual between updates, but nothing epic. Reviews do speed that process along… ;)**


	21. The past & other things we can't escape

**Disclaimer: Oh Twilight, how I do so wish I owned you. But, nope. Nope. Still not mine.**

**Mood music: Sleeping Sickness by City and Colour (in case you wondered, these not only reflect the general mood of the chapters but I try and pick songs with lyrics that provide a little more insight about what the characters are thinking/feeling)**

BPOV

Someone once said "Kisses are like tears; The only real ones are the ones you can't hold back." So by those standards, that first kiss with Edward was about as real as they come. It was the bubbling over of something that had been coming to a boil for some time. It was the cup of water for a thirst I hadn't realized was there. It was fireworks and church bells and lightening and…well, you get the idea. As kisses go, that one was epic.

Sometimes, a kiss like that is all that needs to be said about anything. It is the punctuation mark at the end of so many careless words; To say anything more would be superfluous and would only serve ruin something perfect and complete. But in that instance, when we finally broke apart from one another it was apparent there was still so, so much we had to talk about. Because the time to pretend I wanted anything less than everything from this man had passed, and I was suddenly starving to know him.

"We need to talk," I said, fighting to catch my breath.

"No we don't. We need to do more of what we were just doing. And then maybe some other stuff I've been thinking about too," Edward said, his voice heavy with lust.

"You're probably right," I said and began kissing him deeply again. "Wait, no. No. Bad vampire! Stop it with the sexy! I'm serious. This is serious. I think we just had an pretty significant moment and I'm pretty sure I'm stupidly in love with you so I think I need to know who it is I'm in love with."

"You love me?" Edward asked, his voice tinged with hope and elation.

"Don't get all cocky about it. I just dig a guy who can rock a cape," I teased.

"Real vampires don't wear capes. Real vampires kiss Bella. And again, about that other stuff…"

But I pried him gently away before he could distract me again. "Hold on, Lustula…"

"Lustula?"

"Like Dracula, but with lust…"

"Seriously Bella? Is that the best you could do. I may have to retract my previous confession of love…"

"Your damn undead, kissy, lust thing has destroyed my ability to think clearly and obviously my nicknames are suffering. You only have yourself to blame."

"You're right. I'm bad. Very, very bad. Let's discuss ways you could punish me."

"Edward! You're killing me here. Trust me, I want to rip your clothes off too…"

"Excellent. Let's go with that idea," Edward interrupted.

"But I want to do this right. And that means I should probably know more about you before we break out the handcuffs and lotion," I said.

"Handcuffs and…alright, alright," he conceded. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, let's start with how you became a vampire," I said.

His face darkened and his posture tensed. "That's not a very good story. Besides, you already know how it ends," he said, trying to sound light but failing, eyes suddenly intent on looking at his shoes.

"Hey, look at me," I said gently. "Why don't you want to tell me?"

"I just don't see why it's necessary. I love you and I don't know everything about you. Far from it. Why ruin a good thing?"

"Well, do you want to know about me?" I asked.

He looked torn suddenly and I could tell he wanted to know, but didn't want to be obligated to share with me in return.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," I joked, and he smiled.

Alright, tiny human. You win again. Tell me about you and I'll tell you about my sordid little past.

"Well, let's see; My middle name is Marie. My birthday is September 13. I'm afraid of clowns. I like feta cheese on my pizza. My parents are dead, they died in a car crash where they hit a tree. They left behind a lot of debt so I'm about to lose the house I grew up in. Guess that doesn't matter now. I focused pretty hard on getting through school and getting my degree in journalism so that's why I don't have a lot of close friends. Well, that and the fact I apparently get along better with the undead. After my parents died I was kind of in a daze, unsure of what to do with myself and just kind of letting stuff happen to me. I had a lot of nightmares about them dying. I think I'm getting better. I never dated much, but I've had a few relationships, the most recent involving guy named Jake and a revealing game of beer pong. Didn't work out, he was a total animal. I've never been in love, until now. Your turn."

"Oh my God, you didn't even breath!" he said incredulous at how quickly I'd said a decent portion of my life story.

"And you don't need to, which should make you telling your story all the easier," I said grinning and looking and him expectantly.

"Right. Well… Once upon a time…"

I rolled my eyes at his cheesy opening.

"I was very close with my family," Edward said, starting over in a more somber tone.

"Go on," I encouraged.

"My mother, my father…but especially my younger sister, Alice. She was my best friend and constant companion. And she could also be a complete pain in my ass," he said, a sad smile playing at the corner of his mouth. "It was her idea that I ask out Emily."

"Ask out…Emily? Not sure I like where this is going…" I muttered.

" You're right; My mistake. I've been around about a century and you are the one and only female to ever catch my eye. I'm also a virgin, by the way," he said.

"You are?"

"No! I'm a fucking _vampire_, Bella. I kill people, but you think I have some moral code that dictates I abstain from one of the most enjoyable things a creature can do?"

"Yeah, that is kind of ridiculous when you phrase it that way," I admitted.

"Do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, you were all hot over this Emily bitch, go on," I said rolling my eyes.

"Well, like I said, it was Alice's idea. She said she was sick of watching me pine over the girl and that she just knew Emily and her family would be agreeable to my courting her. She even gave me a bouquet of wildflowers to give Emily…" Edward's voice sounded far away and tentative. There was a vulnerability in his words that was usually missing amidst his cockiness and swagger. "She," he laughed once dryly, "was wrong. Emily was most uninterested in me, and her family looked at me as if I were a cockroach. They sent me away, laughing at my stupidity. I walked home brokenhearted and cursing my meddling sister. If it hadn't been for her urging, I would have retained my pride that day instead of becoming the town's laughingstock. I was so caught up in my own thoughts I didn't see the blood at first when I arrived back at the house." All traces of good humor were gone from his face, and some strange mix of grief and rage shaded him. "I found my mother in the kitchen. Her throat was torn out. Some of her blood had mixed with the flour she'd been baking with and it made this strange, pink paste… Dad was in the doorway, near her. It looked like the killer had gotten him first. His face looked eerily serene, so I don't think he even knew it was coming. Alice…" He paused, taking a moment before continuing "Alice was everywhere. My beautiful sister. Sweet, kind, loving. The most gentle soul I've ever known. Her insides were on the walls and the chairs and…I remember this one time she'd found a kitten. Gangly, stray little thing. Looked like it was dead when we found it. It was obviously motherless and I said we should put the poor thing out of its misery. But Alice said no. 'I can save this one,' she said. She kept that stupid cat next to her constantly in the beginning, warming it with her body heat. And she nursed it back to health with milk and little scraps of food. And damned if it didn't live. It was like she's willed that wretched little creature back to life. But that was how she was; She loved beyond logic. Her goodness was overwhelming. And…and when Alice was dying-when some monster was painting the walls with my baby sister-I was out giving flowers to a girl who thought I was beneath her."

"You couldn't have known. Edward, there's nothing you could have done…"

He held up his hand to stop me.

"Maybe not. But I guess I'll never get the chance to find out, huh?"

It was quiet for a moment while I took in the story he had just put before me.

"So then what happened?" I asked finally.

"I heard a noise, and realized the attacker was still in the house. I didn't have time to think much more than that before she struck, sinking her teeth into my neck. I tried to cry out but there was no sound. I knew I was going to die, but suddenly I felt the attacker pulled away and heard the sounds of a fight. Then James appeared and told me I would be alright, that he had saved me. That was the last thing I remember before I blacked out from the pain. When I next awoke, it felt like I was on fire. Like every cell in my body was boiling. And it just wouldn't stop. I later learned that was part of the transformation, and that though it felt like an eternity, it was only three days. James was waiting for me and explained that I was a vampire now. I responded to s question he had only thought but not voiced right after I came to. It was then we realized I could read minds. He said he had been tracking another of his kind, a female, and she had been the one to kill my family. He said he'd gotten there as fast as he could, but was unable to stop her from slaughtering them. He was able to kill her before she finished me, giving me a bit more of his own venom so I wouldn't die."

"So that's how it works? Venom?"

"Something like that. I probably would have had enough in my system just from that initial bite from the woman, but James felt guilty about my family being slaughtered, so he took great pains to ensure I survived."

"Why would James care if this other woman, this vampire, killed your family? I mean, no offense, I understand it was horrific for you, but don't vampires all kill people?" I asked, feeling a little sick from the story.

"We try to be inconspicuous though, even back then. And this… it was obvious this wasn't an animal. Apparently that was her style though, and James worried so many of those kinds of killings would alert the Volturi and draw their wrath on all the vampires in the area, so he was taking it upon himself to get rid of her."

"Edward… I hate to even ask this but… are you sure? I mean, are you sure James told you the truth? Did you ever see the woman? Couldn't he…"

"No, I didn't, but no. No way. I've known him a long time and he is a douche but there's no way he could have hidden that from me. I would have seen it in his thoughts."

"So…so that was it then? One bite and some burning and-poof-you're a vampire?"

"Yeah. And they all lived happily ever after. Forever and ever and ever and ever…" Edward said darkly.

"So, you weren't happy James saved you?"

" Happy? To be this? To be a monster, like the one that killed my family? He saved me from death, but he damned me, and I knew that. By making me an immortal he ensured I would never, ever be reunited with my family. Because if there is a heaven-or anything like that-it's not for things like me." The sadness in his eyes was immeasurable, and I pulled him into my arms and began stroking his hair gently, unsure of what to say.

"You aren't a bad man, Edward," I whispered finally.

"I'm not a man at all, Bella," he said darkly.

" Okay, you're right about that, if you want to get technical about it, but I think you're wrong about the rest of it-about never being reunited with your family. Nothing is forever, Edward. Not even this. And one day-maybe after this world falls away or hurtles into the sun or whatever-one day you'll be with Alice again. With all of them. I believe that."

"Those are pretty words, Bella. Pretty, soothing words from a beautiful, kind woman. And I'd love to believe in your fairytales. But we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. It's late. You should get some rest," Edward said pulling away from me quickly and suddenly retreating from the room.

"But…" I began, jolted by his sudden absence.

"Get some sleep. I'll still love you in the morning," his voice called from another room.

"Goodnight, Edward," I said sadly before wrapping my arms around myself and going upstairs.

Sleep didn't come easily that night, and when it did it was restless, like it was some unfathomable lake and I was simply skimming the surface. When dull rays of morning spilled through my window I felt as though I'd barely slept at all. I couldn't stop replaying Edward's story again and again in my mind, and thinking of how desperately lonely and broken he was beneath his confident exterior.

The morning seemed crisp but not freezing, and I heard Edward shuffling around in his office, obviously busying himself so he wouldn't have to deal with me at that moment, probably still trying to come to terms with our conversation. I knew how painful it must have been for him to relive those moments by retelling them, and wondered if I had been wrong to force the issue.

I decided to slip on my running shoes and go for a quick job around the property to try and clear my mind. I'd never been athletic-far from it. I was clumsy as hell-but I was willing to risk a sprained ankle to find some sense of being centered again in the wake of everything that had happened those past few…well…year. I scribbled a quick note to Edward in case he wondered where I'd gone and headed out the door.

The autumn air was heavy with frost and the chilled grass crunched beneath my feet as I ran. A dog barked somewhere in the distance and I tried to concentrate on the things I needed to make sense of. My lungs began to burn but I pushed on, hoping to lose myself in exhaustion. My heart was pounding as I came to a small stream on the property and tried to decide if it was worth attempting to jump over or if I should turn around and head back to the house. I heard a noise to my left in front of me and jumped, suddenly feeling uneasy. I decided to turn around and head back, but as soon as I spun on my heels a figure was blocking my path.

"James," I whispered, startled.

"Bella. Fancy meeting you here," he replied and smiled darkly before raising a fist.

Then everything went black.

**A/N- Freakin' James! Sorry about the wait; I warned you I was going to be busy. Plus this bad boy was a little longer than my typical chapters. Getting close to the end now, a few more chapters to go. I'll hopefully be able to get them out a bit faster than this one.**

**Reviewers, thank you so much, as always. I love you. Not in an Edward/Bella way, but still… And for those of you who have crossed over from Twilighted, that's kind of awesome that you enjoyed this so much you couldn't wait to find more chapters. **

**And because it's an FAQ, yes, Edward's human name was Cullen, not Masen. I only consider this story canon-ish. I kept a lot of stuff and changed a lot of stuff. I know that makes it a little more confusing, but just go with it.**


	22. Ever after & other things at stake

**Disclaimer: Don't blame me; they're not my creations.**

**Mood music: Edward; "Mouth" by Bush**

**Bella; "Colorblind" by Counting Crows**

**James; "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen (because the idea of James rocking out to that is just awesome to me)**

**Fan fic rec: Are you reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by CyraBear? 'Cause I'm digging it. What else are you reading (or writing?)**

Recap: Edward and Bella finally made with the smoochies, but she got all "hey, maybe I should actually know about you" about it. Edward told his sad story about getting vamped and then needed some space to clear his pretty lil' head. Bella went out for a run (bad plan, Bella) and got knocked the frick out by James.

EPOV

You'd think having about a century to deal with something would make it better, but let me tell you; Some shit doesn't heal. Apparently the massacre of one's family and subsequent transformation of one's self into an undead monster of unspeakable horror (I stand by that; Unspeakable. Horror.) is one of those things. And as much as I wanted to give Bella anything she wanted, giving her that particular story was pouring salt in a festering wound.

Memories from human life are fuzzier, like watching a television show from the early 70s as compared to the glossy, high definition we get now. But those last few moments were intense, so they burned themselves into my mind a little clearer. Lucky me.

And to tell someone about it for the first time since it happened all those years ago… it was like being the first one in one of those tombs they find in Egypt. I could taste the stale death in the air and found myself looking at the preserved remains of something I had buried very deep within myself a very long time ago.

When I was done talking about it I didn't even feel the need to jump Bella and hump her senseless like one of those red-assed monkeys you see at the zoo in the spring. That shit right there should tell you how much of a downer that little story was for me, because I pretty much always wanted to hump Bella like one of those red-assed monkeys.

I knew it had affected her too, because I heard her toss and turn restlessly as the night bled out into day. I considered venturing out to meet her when I heard her come downstairs in the morning, but still felt awkward about our little round on America's favorite gameshow, "How Fucked Up Is Your Undead Boyfriend?" I heard her lacing up shoes and opening the door, and briefly wondered if I'd underestimated how disturbing this whole thing must have been for her and if she was leaving me afterall. I sped to the entryway, wondering if I should go after her or just give her some peace, when I found a note:

_Deadward, _

_Went for a jog to get some fresh air. Promise not to make you relive any major trauma when I get back. Please try to refrain from kidnapping any other helpless damsels to lure into your den of Pop Tarts and doom while I'm out. _

_I love you._

_Your Bella_

I smiled at the paper and wondered how she had managed to take such an entirely fucked up situation and make it a jumping-off point for snark. I could hear the soft thudding of her footfalls as she clumsily jogged through my property. I noticed how empty the house seemed now that it was absent of the constant thrum of her pulse and whisper of her breath. How had I existed this way, in this stillness, before her? Who was that person, who inhabited my skin before she breathed life into my shell? It was like everything before her was blackness, and now she was the only point of light in my world, and she shone bright enough to illuminate everything that was lost to me before.

An uncomfortable thought threatened to make itself known; "What happens when she dies? She _will_ die, eventually. No matter how much you need her or how safe you keep her…everyone dies. Everyone but monsters."

I swatted the thought away like a fly that I could not be bothered by in that moment. I wouldn't think about that. I was happy, for once, and damn it, I was going to let myself feel that way instead of over-thinking myself into depression.

That's when I heard him; James. His thoughts hummed and buzzed liked white noise and static, a defense honed by decades in the presence of a telepath. But there was no denying the undercurrent of raw, unbridled want in the tenor of his mind. I was out the door and running toward Bella before I could even process having made the decision to do so.

I heard a brief exchange of words and ran impossibly faster toward them. But I was too late. I her the impact of him connecting with her flesh-Thank God for small favors, he didn't bite her, yet-and saw him up ahead as he gathered up her small form and began running.

I made small gains in my attempts to close the gap between us but he stayed constantly far ahead. We raced through the rural back roads and made our way to the more populated area of Forks. He blazed a path to a busy intersection and managed to escape my view just as the sun broke through the clouds. And suddenly, I was trapped. To leave the safety of the shadowed alley I was in was to ensure exposure as something decidedly inhuman. My mind railed against my gut reaction to say "fuck it" and follow him regardless.

"It will do you no good to save her only to have the Volturi made aware of her through sloppy actions and impatience that will lead them to you," logical Edward said.

"Then we'll fucking deal with them too!" Fuck-the-world Edward responded. "He'll kill her!"

"No. He wants to play with her first, or she'd already be dead," logical-Edward countered, earning a growl from fuck-the-world Edward. "Let's just think this through."

Suddenly, the painfully slow gears of both sides of my brain kicked in and came up with a sensible solution: I'd go to the rooftops. I'd have to move carefully, which would take more time, but it was better than waiting out the sun.

I crawled along, keeping myself flush with the buildings and racing when I was sure no one was looking. It was much harder to track them from up here, but I eventually caught their scent again. I followed it to an abandoned dance studio.

"What do you want with me?" Bella's scared voice said from inside the building.

"I want to taste you, Isabella. I want to gobble you right up and paint my lips with your blood. I want to fill my belly with your insides. But more than that, more than any of that, I want to hear you scream. I want that cocky little mouth of yours to stop making snarky comments and start expressing nothing but primal sounds of horror and pain. Because this, dearest, is going to hurt." James said.

And as much as the words should have worried me, it was his thoughts that terrified me. Because for the first time since I'd known him, James had let down his mental shields. And it was all there in front of me, because he _wanted_ me to see.

James, on the day I was turned. James, finding my parents house. James, killing them. Killing my father. Butchering my mother. James…reveling in the sound of my sister as she screamed. Screamed and died.

They all hope for screams, a little.

There had never been any woman vampire. My whole second life was a lie. And I'd spent it feeling indebted to the monster who had destroyed my world.

More memories were displayed before me: James, deciding to try and turn me, just to see if he could. And then, fully intending to kill me once he was done with me, but discovering my unique talent and realizing the many benefits of having someone with such an ability on his side. And I had been so, so easy to trick. So stupid. So ready to believe.

Bella tried lamely to make a run for it, managing to get to a small, sharp piece of wooden debris off the floor and holding it protectively in front of her as she backed up against one of the cracked wall-sized mirrors in the place.

James laughed. "Silly little bitch. Didn't your idiot boyfriend teach you _anything_ about real vampires?" He appeared behind her and grabbed her makeshift weapon from her hand, easily snapping several bones in the process. She screamed in agony, causing him to smile in satisfaction. "That stake through the heart shit? Doesn't work." He grinned and looked up to see me burst into the building.

"Well, well, well… cavalry has arrived," he muttered.

"You," I hissed accusingly. "You killed my family."

"Ding ding ding! We. Have. A. Win-ner!" James mocked. "Took you long enough. We had a good run though, didn't we? And if it wasn't for the fact that the Volturi are bound to figure out my ass was lying about that telepathy shit, I'd still be stringing your stupid ass along. As it is though, I reckon it's time to get out of Dodge. And it really won't do to have you coming along with me, so I hope you understand that I think it's time to dissolve this little partnership."

Bella whimpered and cradled her broken arm, obviously in shock and on the verge of passing out as she went limp in James' arms.

"Let her go." I demanded.

"Oh. Yeah. Sure. This is the part of the story where I turn out to be a big ol' softy at heart and I let you two crazy kids sail off into your own little fucked up 'happily ever after.' Oh wait. Nope. This is the part where I get what I want."

"What do you want, James?" I growled.

"Everything, Edward. All of the money. All of our company. Everything. And for you to never try to find me again, and deal with the fact that you made the monster who killed your family a very rich man." An image of Alice's face contorted in pain flashed through his mind as he licked his lips and eyed Bella's jugular. Silent tears were streaming down her face and her eyes were rolling in a strange, unfocused way.

"Fine," I ground out between clinched teeth. "Just let her go."

He kicked some paperwork and a pen he'd had tucked in his jacket across the floor at me. "Sign it. Not that I wouldn't love to take you at your word but, you know…trust issues," he said with a grin.

I scrawled my name in the appropriate places, never taking my eyes off Bella's, and threw the paper back at him.

"There. It's all yours. Now let her go," I ordered.

"Of course," James said brightly. "Just one little thing…" He plunged the wooden object deep into her abdomen.

"Noo!" screamed as I ran for them.

"Decision time, Eddy," James thought faster than he could speak. "Kill me or save the girl. Not time for both."

And I knew he was right. I had to make a choice, and as always, I chose Bella. I scooped her up in my arms and ran out the door toward the hospital, James' laughter ringing out behind me.

I ran through the double doors of the hospital, forcing myself to move at a borderline-human pace once we were in a position to be noticed by humans.

"Please, she needs help," I begged a shocked looking nurse as I cradled her bloody, frail, _human_, little body.

The next few minutes were a blur of white sheets and white coats and needles and IVs and people saying things that made sense, but not in regards to my Bella. Not my Bella. I was so absorbed in the hopelessness I caught in their frenzied thoughts in this place that stank of antiseptic and decay, that it took me a few moments to realize I was in the presence of another vampire.

But he saw me.

"Are you the person who brought in this young woman," he asked me, saying the words slowly enough that no one would notice he was something other than human. He was tall and blond, with a gentle demeanor and dressed as a doctor. His thoughts confirmed that he was indeed, a healer. He had been practicing for some time and was good. Very good.

"What. The. Fuck?" I wondered. "Whoever heard of a vampire doctor? We kill people…that's kind of our schtick…"

I nodded, trying to focus on Bella and not let my mind get too preoccupied by this strange new development.

He led me out the hall away from anyplace we might be overheard.

"I am very curious as to who you are and what situation has brought you here with this injured woman," he said with supernatural speed. "But I'm afraid I don't have time to get into all that now. She's dying. And there's nothing I can do to stop that."

I started to protest-to beg him, beg God, beg anyone that would listen to save her-but he held out a hand indicating there was more.

"Do you love her?" he asked.

I nodded, without hesitation, only vaguely surprised it was so obvious.

"Then you know the choice you must make. If you want to change her, I can help you with that, but we will need to discuss some things. I won't let you make a monster to unleash on this town, killing people."

"I don't want that for her," I said miserably, shaking my head. "Not for Bella, not for my Bella."

And the grief that had threatened to overtake me began to needle its way under my skin as I fought to stay focused.

"There is another way," he said.

"What?" I asked, having trouble keeping myself together enough to continue this conversation.

"There are ways for us to exist without taking human lives. If I can promise to teach her that-to teach you how to be like that too, if you'd be willing-would you want to change her? Make your decision quickly, she's almost out of time."

I tried to think it all through, to make sense of what he was saying, but the only thing I could think was "I can't lose her. I can't lose her." I nodded my head and felt I had just bargained with the devil for her life, trading in her beautiful soul for an existence at my side as a monster. But I couldn't let her die. I just couldn't let her die.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, sensing my hesitance.

I nodded again, resolved to my blasphemy.

"Then I will help you…I'm sorry, what was your name?" he asked.

"Edward," I told him. "My name is Edward."

"Pleased to meet you, Edward," he said, he thoughts and manner exuding kindness. "I'm Carlisle. Come quickly, we have work to do."

**A/N: Alright, those of you wondering about when Edward would make her a vampire, there ya go. And everyone wondering where Carlisle was or if they would ever learn about the vegetarian option…well, there's that too. This is the last official "chapter" but there's an epilogue coming your way soon, to wrap everything up. Thanks to everyone who has given this little fic a chance; it was my first time trying anything like this and fiction is not in my comfort zone for writing. **

**A big, hardcore "thanks" to everyone who has taken time to leave a review. These little suckers are time consuming to write and reviews are the only payment you get for them. It means so much when someone takes the time to leave one, so thanks to all of you. And lurkers, hell, I have love for you too. Thanks for reading.**

**And like I said, don't take this off your "alerts" yet because the epilogue is going to be killer. :[ ****ß- vampire smiley, in case you wondered.**


	23. The End & other beginnings

**Mood music: "Life is Beautiful" - Sixx:AM**

**(Roll credits): "Cosmic Love"- Florence & the Machine (Both of these songs have perfect lyrics for this chapter so check 'em out if you want more insight into the characters)**

**Recap: James abducted Bella and revealed that he was the one who killed Edward's family, turning him into a vampire as a sort of trial-run to see if he could do it. He'd planned to kill Edward soon after but discovered Edward's mind-reading ability and decided to lie to him as long as he was useful. However, knowing the Volturi would likely be looking for him soon, he decided to use Bella to extort money from Edward along with a promise that he wouldn't hunt for James. Edward agreed but James stabbed Bella and made his escape. Bella was taken to the hospital but it was too late to save her. However, the doctor treating Bella was none other than Big Daddy C himself, and he had some ideas about how to save Bella (and a possible change of diet, hmmm…) Edward reluctantly agreed, fearful he was damning Bella but unable to let her slip away.**

**BPOV**

_Open your eyes… _

_Open your eyes…_

_**Six months later**_

"You sure you want to do this, Slush Puppy?"

"Slush Puppy? Damn, I loved those. I wish there was a frickin' deer that tasted like the blue slush puppy slushy. Maybe I should try I real puppy," I joked, turning toward Rose.

"Bella! Focus," Edward whispered.

"I bet they'd taste like kibble anyway," Emmett muttered.

Edward sent him a withering glare, but I could tell he was repressing a grin. I could tell a lot of things about him these days, after living with him as both a human and a vampire. I was suddenly overcome with the urge to hum "Getting to Know You" and had to bite back a giggle before sharply adjusting my focus and forcing myself to concentrate.

"Yes, I'm sure," I answered finally.

I let the sights and smells of the terrain seep into every level of my consciousness. The beach, the warm breeze, the gentle, thudding pulse of hundreds of small living creatures. But it wasn't the living creatures I was interested it; It was a dead one. Undead, specifically.

James lazed stone-still in the sandy shade of a makeshift shelter just far enough away that he could neither hear nor smell us in our secluded spot on the beach. He looked much as I remembered him-sharp featured and weasely- but he was now in high definition thanks to my super cool vampire sight. The fucker had relocated to a sweet little island getaway on Edward's dime. Blood money; My blood. I chocked back the think rage that suddenly swelled at the corners of my vision. I didn't resent Edward for the choice he'd made. In truth, I probably would have chosen it myself in that moment had I a voice to do so. But the fact remained I hadn't had that choice. My decision-my life-was stolen from me by the asshole up the beach in Bermuda shorts and a straw cowboy hat. Seriously.

Edward seemed to detect the slight change in my demeanor. "You okay?" he asked, his face pinched in concern.

"Yeah. Yeah. Let's just get this done."

He seemed to examine me for a moment before nodding once. He made brief eye contact with Rose and Emmett and then began a slow, purposeful jog toward James.

James sensed his approach and instantly flew into a crouch, sizing up the situation.

"What's wrong, James? Not thrilled to see your old business partner?" Edward's silken voice asked. "I'd think you'd be a bit more grateful since it was me who made this little…" he gestured widely at the sandy little island we were on "getaway possible."

"We had a deal, Edward," James hissed, trying unsuccessfully to hide the fear creeping into the tenor of his words.

"And we are, if nothing else, men of our words," Edward replied coolly.

"You're not still upset about that piece of ass I stabbed back in November, are you?" James sneered. "Really Edward, I know you're hard up but even a dumb fuck like you should know better than to get emotionally involved with some inconsequential little human snatch."

Edward stiffened and I assumed he was trying to control his temper so he didn't get sloppy, which was likely what James was banking on.

"I notice little Bella isn't with you today. Did she perhaps feel coming would put too much at…stake? Was she worried about my cutting remarks? Or did she just leave you after a real man like me finally put the wood to her. At least one of us got to stick something in her. So what was it, Edward? Was she a little dead on her feet today, or was she just a little…dead?" James curled his lips into a snarl as the last word.

_Good. Douche thinks he killed me._

Edward didn't seem to be sharing in my positive interpretation of events and was shaking from the physical effort of not throwing the plan out the window and going ape shit on James. And suddenly it happened; Edward faltered in his self control and lunged, becoming a blur of snarling teeth and violently colliding limbs. I broke into a run, leaving the seclusion of my hiding place and yelling for them to stop.

James halted in a seeming deadlock with Edward, before a smile played on his lips at the sight of me.

"Well well well, Edward. You've been a busy boy," he whispered.

The sandy terrain beneath my feet gave way and I crumpled to the ground. James was on me in less than a heartbeat.

"Even as a vampire you're a clumsy bitch," he whispered with his teeth pressed to my face.

"Don't hurt him," I plead as Edward simultaneously yelled "Let her go!"

"Oh I'll hurt him, bitch. I'll hurt him plenty. But I'm going to hurt you first. See, that's your problem, you stupid, useless little cunt; You've always worried about the wrong things, when you should be worried about yourself."

"Guess we have that in common," I muttered.

"What?" he started to ask but I was on top of him before he could finish the word. Edward came behind him and put him in a tight hold, forcing him to look at me and allowing me to break away enough that I could put some space between myself and his disgusting…well…everything.

"You know what my problem really is, James?" I asked in a violent, sing-song voice.

He didn't answer and Edward tightened his grip, causing rips to form in the places where James' shoulders met his arms in a way that reminded me strangely of cracked, dried Play-Doh.

"What?" he spat back.

"My problem, is that they don't make an animal that tastes like Count Chocula. My problem is I'll never be able to get wrinkly or earn any stretch marks. My problem is I can never tease Edward about that disco ball thing his skin does, ever again. But do you know what my main problem is?" I softly placed a hand on each side of James' face, almost the way one might touch a lover.

Fear, for the first time, was undeniable in his eyes as they darted in all directions looking for an escape. I brought my face level with his and when I spoke, my lips were so close they ghosted over his.

"My main issue…my main _problem_, James, is that men. Just. Keep. Trying. To. Kill. Me."

James whimpered softly.

"But no worries, darlin'. 'Cause that shit ends now," I said and smiled.

And then I ripped his head off.

"Damn it, Bella!" Emmett roared from down the beach before flashing to my side with Rose on his heels. "We didn't even get to _do_ our part!"

"Sorry," I said. "I guess I got a little over-eager."

His frown told me I was not forgiven.

"Hey, how about you rip off his arms? Would that make you feel better?" I offered.

His face exploded into a broad grin and I knew we were fine. He and Rose happily went about dismembering James as Edward built a fire.

"You okay?" Edward asked.

"You don't need to keep checking now, you know?" I answered gently. "I'm not so breakable anymore."

"Yeah, well, I'll always worry. And you sure were able to play clumsy realistically."

"Years of practice," I said with a smirk.

"So all that stuff you said to James…" he began but I held out a hand to stop him.

"…was true," I finished for him and sadness swept across his perfect features. I wondered if there would ever be a day in our eternity that he didn't blame himself for changing me. "But," I continued "I do get to spend every day of forever with the man of my dreams, and as trade-offs go, that's not so bad." I said with a smile.

"Even better than Pop Tarts?"

I paused and pretended to consider the question.

"Well…we talking the frosted ones?" I joked before he pounced on me, tackling to the sand. We laughed freely, feeling the weightlessness of the moment. His lips soon found mine and began their familiar dance as his hand snaked up my thigh.

"Oh, gross, get a room you two!" Rose yelled. We laughed and I retrieved James' head from the sand before regarding it briefly and pitching it unceremoniously in the fire. His other body parts soon followed suit and soon James was nothing more than a bad dream and some ash on a lonely shore.

"We'd better get back. Carlisle will worry if we aren't home by dawn," Edward said looking at the sky

Black smoke pillowed up behind us as we began to walk away.

"So, Bella, you got the guy, killed the monster and scored yourself as close to a 'happily ever after' as these stories come. What's next?" Rose asked.

"Well I… wait…did you just call me Bella?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

She smirked. "Don't let it go to your head, Snow Cone, but… we're family now so…y'know," Rose said and looked as embarrassed as Rosalie Hale might ever look.

"Happily ever after? What do you think this shit is? A fairy tale? We's vampires, woman!" Emmett said jokingly.

"Well, even if it was a fairy tale, it sure wouldn't start 'Once upon a time," Rose said looking a little lost in the thought.

"Yeah, well, honestly, what kind of freaks would even want to read a story like ours anyhow? I have no clue how I'd begin it," I said, looping my fingers through Edward's.

"I do," he said seriously. " I know exactly how I'd begin it. 'Always so predictable. The thoughts of thugs were always the same. Dark, shifting melodies of abuse and lust and greed and betrayal…'"

**A/N: Well, that's all folks. I know this was a short one but it's the story I set out to tell. Thanks for sticking it out and I hope it was worth your time. Your reviews have made my day, and I'll miss them. So whadda ya say? Leave me just one more, for old time's sake? **

**I'll miss these characters and who knows? Maybe I've even got a one shot or two to tell about them (like hey, whatever happened to that Emily skank Edward was out visiting when his family got slaughtered? Hmmmm…) or maybe even more adventures, someday. But for now, it's time to let them get some rest. Thanks again. Review! :)**


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